


Fanganronpa Twenty-Something

by KatieKomics



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Attempted Murder, Cannibalism, Death, Drinking, Drug Use, Fan Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), Gore, Hanging, I'll add more tags as they're needed, LIKE A LOT OF ANGST, Multi, Murder, Strangulation, Suicide, Underage Drinking, except monokuma he gets to stay, just a lot of people dying, they're all ocs - Freeform, well it isn't on screen but that kind of thing is still worthy of a warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2020-11-27 15:55:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 31,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20951009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatieKomics/pseuds/KatieKomics
Summary: Tomoko Sonada wakes up in the gymnasium of the presitgious Hope's Peak Academy not remembering being an Ultimate at all. Before she or her new classmates can make sense of their surroundings, they are welcomed by their headmaster to a brand new killing game. Tomoko will have to navigate the school and investigate the deaths of her classmates, all while avoiding being killed herself.





	1. Day 1

Tomoko woke up on the hardwood with aching pain through her whole body and her hair in her face. As she sat up, her back seemed to twinge with pain from its prolonged contact with the hardwood floor. Tomoko pressed the palm of her right hand to her head and leaned forward, adding pressure to her throbbing headache. The room around her is thick with silence and dim enough for Tomoko not to be able to see any of the walls. 

She doesn’t stand up quite yet, still nursing her headache. She hisses with the pain and dizziness as she fails to orient herself inside a room she could hardly see. The nausea accompanying Tomoko’s pain doesn’t do her any favours.

“Are you okay?” A shuttering voice comes from behind Tomoko. It sounded masculine as well as fragile. Soft with genuine concern.

Tomoko turned around immediately. In the shadows behind her was a young man about her age. He wore a long white coat and gloves. He held his hands up with his palms facing Tomoko, not far enough for contact but showing he was unarmed. 

“Where are we?” Tomoko asked.

“I think we’re in a gymnasium?” The boy answered. “The floor has markings on it that sort of look like a court.”

Tomoko looked down again. He was right, there were multicoloured lines, both curved and not, painted across the hardwood. 

“I didn’t see them,” Tomoko said. 

“I didn’t either, at first,” the boy stammered. “It’s very dark in here, so I haven’t moved much. I don’t want to run into anything- I wonder if we’re the only ones here?” His thought process seemed to jump from place to place as he spoke. He stood slightly hunched over and wrung his gloved hands together. “I woke up not too long ago. You were asleep, too?”

“Yes, I was,” Tomoko answered before pausing. “Should we know each other? I don’t recognize you.” The drowsiness she felt was apparent in her voice.

A brief pause passed between them.

“I don’t recognize you, either,” she boy eventually said. “Should we introduce ourselves? Then maybe try to figure out what’s going on?”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Tomoko stumbled to her feet. Her headache was only slightly relieved before being agitated again by the blood rushing to her head. Her vision blanks for a moment as she steadies herself. “Sorry,” she says. “I must’ve hit my head or something. I’m Tomoko Sonada.”

“Nice to meet you, Tomoko,” the boy replies awkwardly. Tomoko half expected him to reach out a hand to shake her own, but he instead holds them close to his torso. “I’m Kazuki Hattori.”

“Nice to meet you, too-” Tomoko nodded before she was suddenly knocked to the side by an unseen force.

“Coming through!” A new voice joined them. Masculine as well, but with far more energy than Kazuki’s. The new voice was jarring in its sudden volume. “Watch it! I can’t see where I’m going!”

“What?” Tomoko steadied herself and turned around. “Neither can we! Who are you?”

The voice belonged to a boy shorter than Tomoko and wearing a sweater that looked to be based on a monster of some kind. It was large and baggy on the boy’s frame. Under the hood, his bright hair visible as well as his sunglasses. Tomoko could tell by the loud noises when the newcomer moved he must be wearing large boots similar to her own. 

“I’m Ryuu!” The new voice said. “Ryuu Obara! Who the heck are you?”

“I’m Tomoko,” she motioned to herself as she spoke. “That’s Kazuki,” she added as she nodded in the direction of the boy beside her. He nervously waved back Ryuu.

"That's neat, that's cool," Ryuu reiterated himself swiftly. "It's nice to meet you and all, but I'm just gonna cut right to the chase; where the Hell am I?"

"Shut the fuck up, will you!" Yet another voice from the darkness. "God, whoever was just talking, your voice is the worst!" The new speaker was feminine but coarse. The tone matched its biting words.

The newest speaker stepped closer to reveal herself as a girl taller than Tomoko but shorter than Kazuki. She wore a stout formal hat and suit that looked pitch black in the low lighting. 

"Who're you?" Ryuu asked immediately, disregarding her request for him to lower his voice.

"Fuck off, I'm trying to figure out what the Hell is going on," she replied. 

Before Tomoko could step in, the room was flooded with bright light. She closed her eyes tightly, the sudden change dizzying her momentarily. As Tomoko adjusted to the light and opened her eyes again, she was greeted by three familiar figures as several strangers. They were all chattering worriedly about themselves as the rest of them woke up.

As Tomoko looked around it appeared that Ryuu and the suit-wearing girl were already fighting while Kazuki stared between then in muted fear.

Kazuki's pale complexion was even more so in the light. Ryuu's freckles were suddenly visible. The green sleeves of Ryuu’s sweater bunched up at his elbows as he argued with the movement of his hands. The new girl, however, kept her hands in the pockets of her dress pants. It turned out that her suit was not red, but a dark maroon. Her face was almost as pale as Kazuki’s. In the light, shallow scars became visible across her face and neck.

As Tomoko looked around it became clear that she was right to assume they were in a gymnasium. She turned towards the door to see a short girl with soft black hair who was trying and failing to open the door. A very tall boy eventually joined her. He was wearing a scarf that covered his mouth. He also failed to open the door, though they both continued trying. Observing them was a smartly dressed girl with many freckles holding a book against herself with one hand and a pen behind her ear. Her light hair was pulled back in a messy bun. She seemed to be telling the other two students what to do.

Tomoko began making her way towards the door hoping to help them before loudspeakers in the room rattled to life with an omnipresent voice. Tomoko instinctively covered her ears as another booming voice surrounded them all.

“Good morning, students! Welcome to Hope’s Peak Academy!”

This announcement was followed by a drumroll and confetti falling onto a stage at the end of the gymnasium opposite to the exit. As everybody in the room turned to face the stage (save for one girl in a sundress who was still wandering around), what appeared to be a black and white teddy bear cartwheeled into their field of view. At this moment, the drumroll finally stopped. 

From what must have been a trap door in the stage, a microphone stand taller than the bear rose to his left. The bear attempted to reach the microphone at the top of the stand before eventually giving up and kicking it over. The resulting smash and electronic squeak practically made everybody in the room flinch.

“What the fuck-” the girl in the maroon suit muttered under her breath.

“Aw, ‘tis an adorable little teddy! Looks so sweet!” The girl with the soft black hair chimed in.

“What’s up with the one eye?” Ryuu piped up.

“Huh?” The girl in the sundress finally seemed to have directed her attention towards the stage.

“Shut up, all of you!” The bear yelled harshly as he picked up the microphone. “Show your headmaster a little respect!” 

The room all but went silent save for a single “so cute!” From the black-haired girl.

“I can get ugly real quickly, you little brat!” the bear spat back. “Now pay attention! It’s time for freshman orientation! You’re all students of Hope's Peak now, so start acting like it!”

Tomoko considered her circumstances for a moment before dire anxiety settled in her gut. Hope’s Peak Academy was one of the most prestigious schools in the world! Only true ultimate talents attend! Her confusion stemming from her missing memories only intensified her fear at the prospect of being an Ultimate. Since when was Tomoko an Ultimate?

From what was happening around her, it seemed that her classmates were confused for the same reason as Tomoko. They were all asking each other about their talents, only to be unable to recall their own. 

“Did I or did I not tell you idiots to shut the Hell up!?” The monochrome bear bellowed into the microphone. Considering the volume of his voice, he really didn’t need it. “That’s better,” As the students in the gymnasium calmed down, so did he. “As I was saying, I am headmaster Monokuma! From now on, you all answer to me! Next one to interrupt me doesn’t graduate!” He screamed suddenly as Ryuu seemed to have suddenly shoved the girl in maroon who looked about ready to break his arm at any second. A short silence fell over the room. “God, this is worse than the other classes already.”

“Hope’s Peak Academy works differently than other schools,” Monokuma continued. “Starting now, there is only one way to graduate, and that’s through participation in a killing game!”

Once again, the room erupted into a cacophony of worry from each student inside it.

“Shut up and let me explain myself!” Monokuma screamed again. A reluctant silence eventually followed. “Here’s how this works. I will present all of you with a motive to kill and leave you to do whatever the Hell it is you want to do until that happens. When one of you finally does decide to axe off a fellow student, you’ll all start an investigation into the crime! Once I’ve had enough of that, I’ll hold a class trial. Here’s where the fun part comes in; if the blackened is caught, they’ll be executed. However, if the wrong person is accused, everybody will be executed except the blackened! The true killer will become the sole graduating student of Hope’s Peak Academy!”

The distinct fear in Tomoko had become a sick combination of existential dread and nausea. The feeling only grew as the rules of the killing game were explained. 

“Now onto school policies!” Monokuma procured a scroll from nowhere that fell off the stage as he unravelled it. Tomoko assumed it was all for show, as when the light shone on the back of the paper it appeared to be blank. Monokuma cleared his throat before continuing.

“Rule number one; no leaving campus! You are all required to stay within school grounds for the duration of the game! Rule two; night time is from ten in the evening to seven in the morning. You will all be alerted of this through the announcements. You don’t need to go to sleep necessarily, but you never know who might be prowling the halls!” Monokuma broke into a tickled chuckle at this. “Rule three; no sleeping in class! You can only sleep in the dormitories! Rule four; you can explore the campus to your heart's content. Rule five; violence against your headmaster and destruction of surveillance equipment is strictly prohibited! Rule six; any student who commits murder will graduate unless they are convicted in a class trial! Rule seven; I can add as many new rules as I want because I’m the one in charge!”

Ryuu appeared to be opening and closing his mouth waiting for an opportunity to interject as Monokuma spoke. Eventually, he gave up and resorted to standing in one spot, confused and waiting for Monokuma to finish laying out the rules.

“Now,” Monokuma concluded. “All of you have been given a Monopad. They are in your respective dorms. These Monopads will help you, so don’t lose them! They’re expensive, it’s like an indestructible personalized tablet so you’d better appreciate them!” As he spoke, the aggression in his voice from earlier returned. “In these Monopads will be the school rules, any information relating to the owner or an ongoing investigation, and a map of the campus. Plus, they’re customizable!”

A single “oo” at the promise of customization came from the mouth of the black-haired girl.

“Yes, thank you, they’re very nice,” Monokuma seemed to reply to the single interested voice in the crowd of terrified highschool students. “Now, to provoke you innocent children into the slaughter of your fellow man, you will all be presented with a motive!” More confetti fell onto the stage. “You may be thinking, ‘since when were we Ultimates? I don’t remember that at all!’ Well, that’s your motive!”

Tomoko’s stomach twisted at this. 

“You could be an Ultimate anything! I’ve taken your memories, so it’s all a mystery! However, in each of your dorms is an item that only you, the Ultimate whatever-the-Hell-you-are, can use it to your advantage with maximum efficiency! Any questions?"

“Headmaster! Headmaster Monokuma!” The black-haired girl immediately thrust her hand into the air as if waiting to be called upon to answer a question on a blackboard.

“Yes, you, annoying yet adorably eager girl in the dress?” Monokuma pointed to her and her face momentarily lit up at being called upon.

“May we be given a hint?” She asked. “As to what our talents may be? Or, rather, the talents of our classmates?” The girl’s sweet way of speaking completely betrayed the nature of her question.

“Oh, you must be a diabolical one,” Monokuma commented. “What’s your name, miss raven-hair?”

“Shiori Machida!” The girl responded quickly. She held her hands together in front of her.

“Well, Shiori, I can’t give away the talents of everybody here, that would ruin the surprise!” Monokuma cackled. “I can give you a hint, though. For example, among you, there is an Ultimate Toxicologist, an Ultimate Linguist, and Ultimate Sociologist, and an Ultimate Villain. I’ll leave it to you crazy kids to figure out who is who!”

Tomoko latched onto the last piece of given information. Ultimate Villain? This didn't ease the dread she felt.

“Now, you are all free to exit the gymnasium! The assembly is over, so you can all go and do whatever the Hell you want. Go look around campus and introduce yourselves, or lock yourselves in your dorms and cry, that’s also an option. Maybe one of you will even start the killing game for us!” Monokuma laughed as the doors to the gymnasium swung open. Shiori was among the first to leave, skipping out into the hall. She was followed by the girl in the maroon suit and the boy with the scarf who towered over both of them. The smartly dressed girl hurried after them as they led the group.

Tomoko eventually started making her way towards the exit as Ryuu bolted ahead. Kazuki followed alongside her.

“What are you going to do?” Kazuki asked when Tomoko didn’t look at him or start a conversation. 

“I’m going to my dorm,” she replied. “I don’t feel well.”

“Does your stomach hurt? Are you hungry? We can probably find you something,” Kazuki replied. He seemed to speak more with his concern.

“I think I’ve lost my appetite,” she turned him down as kindly as she could, still avoiding eye contact.

“Well, catch up with me if you change your mind,” Kazuki wrings his gloved hands together. “I’m going to look for something to drink first.”

With that, he makes his way down the opposite hallway to Tomoko. He hadn’t even gone to pick up his Monopad, yet. Tomoko was grateful for this, though. She would rather be alone for a bit. As she was following the crowd of students down the hall, Tomoko avoided joining in their conversation. 

Ahead of her was a girl in an outfit somewhat similar to the girl in maroon who walked beside her. Her outfit was nearly pure white. It was the same girl who had been ordering around Shiori and the tall boy while trying to escape the gymnasium. She seemed to be explaining why the killing game being used as a social experiment was impossible. She claimed that test subjects being unaware of an experiment was a violation, to which the girl in maroon replied in annoyance that she “couldn’t give less of a shit about the social sciences right now.”

As the girl in maroon finished saying this, Ryuu sped up to her, snatched her had right off her head and ran off. The girl was immediately in an enraged pursuit down the hall before they both turned the corner and disappeared. Tomoko just kept walking.

From around the corner, she heard “Just tell me your name and I’ll give you the hat back!” This was followed by a loud smack.

“Masuyo Tanji!” The girl yelled back at Ryuu before coming back around the corner. She shoved past the flow of students to walk down the hall in the opposite direction, holding her hat to her head. Ryuu stumbled around the corner with a distinct red mark across the right side of his face. It looked less like he’d been slapped and more like he’d been punched in the side of his jaw.

Tomoko opted to turn in the opposite direction that Ryuu and Masuyo had gone when she hit him, and luckily enough the crowd of students seemed to be dwindling. Down the hallway, a line of dorm rooms finally became visible. 

Tomoko swiftly approached the door with a plaque of her face on the front and opened the door. She walked into her dorm and locked the door behind her before throwing herself face down on the bed without taking in the layout of her room. She let out a muffled scream of confused fear and anxiety into her pillow.


	2. Day 2, Morning

Tomoko woke up the next morning to the screen in her room. The Momkuma announcements began with the soft hum of static and bright light. The voice of the headmaster quickly followed.

  
"Good morning, Hope's Peak Academy! Welcome to your wonderful second day of school! " Monokuma let out a cackle. “ It is now seven AM. Rise and shine! ” The screen cut off as quickly as it had turned on, plunging the room back into a heavy silence.

  
Tomoko reluctantly rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. She hadn't changed clothes before sleeping and felt disgusting as a result. Hungry, too. She reluctantly sat up in her bed. She'd never even pulled the sheets over herself before practically collapsing on it the day before. Tomoko yawned and looked around her room. It carried an air of unfamiliarity. Of intruding on what wasn’t hers. Tomoko stood up.

  
On the bedside table was what looked like a tablet. Tomoko assumed this was her Monopad. Beside the Monopad was a hammer. Tomoko picked up the tool and turned it over in her hand. The handle of it fit perfectly in her palm, and the metal end looked unpolished. It was then that Tomoko remembered Monokuma’s motive. She immediately dropped the hammer on the table. She stared for a moment as her thoughts swam in every direction before turning her back to it. 

  
In the room were wooden drawers. Tomoko looked through them and found school uniforms in her size as well as several pairs of overalls. Among them were gloves. Beside the dresser, a pair of heavy boots similar to her own. All this would seem considerate if Tomoko wasn't in her current situation. She changed into a clean outfit and made her way towards the door.

  
Tomoko opened the door to her room and closed it behind her. She realized as she began walking down the hall that she hadn't looked at the school map on her Monopad. Realizing this, Tomoko quickly turned around only to nearly run right into another student. 

  
Rather than stumble right into Tomoko, the other student (without looking up from her book) suddenly turned and moved swiftly out of harm's way before continuing on her path. She didn't seem to have noticed Tomoko at all.

  
Tomoko looked at the other girl as she made her way down the hall. It was the girl in the sundress who she'd seen wandering the gymnasium yesterday. She seemed to be walking with little regard to where exactly she was or where she was going. It was surprising to Tomoko that she hadn’t bumped into her.

  
“Excuse me,” Tomoko called after the messy-haired girl. She didn’t look up from her book. Tomoko followed her. “Hello?” She quickly tapped the girl’s shoulder once.  
The girl finally looked up from her book, glancing around briefly before noticing Tomoko to her right. She looked at Tomoko past a pair of thick round glasses.

  
“Do you know where we’re supposed to get breakfast?” Tomoko asked.

  
The girl paused for a moment, still looking at Tomoko without a shift in her inquisitive expression.

  
“No,” she replied. “I just thought that if I walked around for long enough I’d find it.”

  
“Oh,” Tomoko tried to hide her disappointment but wasn’t entirely sure if it worked. “ What are you reading? ” She awkwardly moved towards small talk.

  
“A book,” the girl replied. “It’s about things.”

  
“Oh,” Tomoko said again.

  
“Do you know where the kitchen is?” The girl asked awkwardly.

  
“No,” Tomoko replied. “I thought you did.”

  
Another pause.

  
“Walk with me?” The girl offered.

  
“Okay,” Tomoko shrugged.

  
As they walked down the hall side by side, the girl returned to reading her book. “I’m Miyuki Rie,” she said. “What’s your name?”  
“Tomoko Sonada,” Tomoko replied. 

  
“That’s a pretty name,” Miyuki replied despite no longer making eye contact. She did, however, crack a small smile. Tomoko smiled slightly as well, despite her knowing that Miyuki wasn’t looking at her. 

  
Tomoko held her hands in the pockets of her overalls as they walked down the hallway. The silence between them was awkward but light. Tomoko followed Miyuki around twists and corners of the halls they were unfamiliar with. Eventually, she was able to pick up on the smell of something sweet baking in the air. Tomoko walked ahead of Miyuki and peeked through the window on one of the doors in the hall to see several other students gathered inside. Four of the students, she recognized by name.

  
“Miyuki, I found the kitchen,” Tomoko called behind her before opening the door for them. Without replying or looking up, Miyuki turned and headed right inside. Tomoko decided she wouldn’t comment on this.

  
“Thank you,” Miyuki said as she continued on her nonspecific path.

  
“Tomoko!” Ryuu called out to her before running up.  “Look, look, check it out, muffins!” He held one up to her. “They’re really good, you should have one! I promise I didn’t take a bite out of it!”

  
Tomoko reluctantly takes the muffin from Ryuu. It’s intact and still wrapped. Warm and sweet-smelling, too.

  
“Who made them?” Tomoko asked.

  
“Kazuki did,” Ryuu replied. “He’s over there.” Ryuu pointed towards the other side of the kitchen where Kazuki looked to be pulling another batch out of the oven.  
Despite herself, dread filled Tomoko’s chest and weighed on her shoulders. She approached Kazuki and looked across what he’d laid out on the counter. It was a mess. Many of the ingredients had been spilt. Muffins sat in a tin set aside from what could only be called the ‘disaster zone. ’ Kazuki was still wearing his white lab coat but had removed his gloves. His long sleeves were rolled up, and he seemed completely distracted when Tomoko approached him.  
“Good morning, Kazuki,” Tomoko spoke up, still scanning the counter for anything strange. 

  
“Good morning,” Kazuki jumped slightly when she spoke up. “ I didn’t see you, Tomoko!”

  
“You can bake?” She asked.

  
“Apparently,” Kazuki replied. “I kind of know what I’m doing. A little bit. Sort of.”

  
“Is this your talent?” Tomoko asked.

  
“Uh-” Kazuki wiped his hands on a dry towel. “ I don’t think so. Doesn’t feel like it. I mean, I’m guessing it doesn’t. I figure my talent would feel like a passion, you know? This feels more like a hobby.”

  
Tomoko considered whether or not it would be appropriate to ask what Kazuki had gotten as a motive.

  
“Are they poisoned!?” Shiori seemed to have snuck up behind them. “Had you plotted to kill us all during the twilight through which we were separated, Kazuki? Diabolical, your mind is!”

  
Kazuki paled at Shiori’s accusation. “No!” He interjected. “Here, watch,” He picked up one of the muffins and took a bite of it. He paused while eating before he spoke again. “See? Oh, wow, I didn’t actually think these would taste good. ” He commented absently.

  
In response, Shiori snatched one of the muffins off the counter. “Thank you, Kazzie!” She said before running off.

  
“Wow, she already likes you,” an unfamiliar voice came from above Tomoko. She immediately looked up to see a boy hanging upside down from the rafters with a muffin in one hand. With his other hand, he held his hat to his head. His bandana fell over his chin. “Howdy, down there.”

  
“How long were you up there?” Kazuki asked, his voice cracking slightly. He was once again holding his hands together in front of him.

  
The boy above them hummed. “Not too long, nobody noticed me come in.”

  
“Who are you?” Tomoko asked.

  
“Noburu,” the boy replied through a mouthful of his breakfast. “Noburu Sora. Anyways, lab coat; that girl likes you.”

  
“What?” Kazuki was suddenly embarrassed. He cupped his own face in his hands. “No way! I don’t know her!”

  
“Calm down, doc,” Noburu chuckled. “I didn’t say she was in love with you. She probably just thinks you’re cute. She gave you a nickname, isn’t that sweet?”

  
“Not from her,” Kazuki responded somewhat under his breath. “Something about her is kind of eerie, don’t you think?”

  
Noburu shrugged. “Aren’t some girls just like that though?”

  
Tomoko wasn’t entirely sure how to take that comment.

  
They were interrupted by another semi-familiar face. “It isn’t a matter of gender,” she interjected. It was the smartly dressed girl who had been talking to Masuyo the day before. “Everybody expresses their interest in another differently. Perhaps it is through giving Kazuki a nickname that Shiori shares her interest in him, but it would need to be asked of her. Or tested. ” She still held a spiral book that at a closer look appeared to be a notepad. She held her pencil behind her ear and her light hair in a messy bun.

  
“I- what?” Confusion was only becoming increasingly obvious in Kazuki’s voice.

  
“Sorry for interjecting,” the girl tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “ Sad as it is, I tend to enjoy gossip. I don’t believe I’ve met your other friend,” she nodded towards Tomoko.

  
“Oh,” Kazuki stopped fidgeting with his hands for a moment. “ Rin, this is Tomoko. Tomoko, this is Rin. ” He motioned between them.

  
“A pleasure,” Rin held out a hand for Tomoko to take. The two of them exchanged a firm handshake before Rin stepped back. “I will be returning to the table with the others,” she said.

  
“Okay, I’ll see you-” Before Kazuki could finish, Rin had already wandered off. “ I’ll see her later,” he shrugged to Tomoko.

  
“She seems interesting,” Noburu spoke up. Tomoko jumped suddenly at this interjection.

  
“I completely forgot you were up there!” She said. 

Noburu laughed a little in response. “I like it up here,” he commented. “I think I’m going to come down, though. I want to explore the school. ” He pulled himself into an upright position before jumping from the rafters and landing in front of the others. “ Peace,” he said before walking out of the kitchen.   
“This is getting a bit much,” Tomoko pinched the bridge of her nose. “It’s too much… Weird for me to take in all at once.”

  
“I mean, Rin did say everybody is a bit different,” Kazuki offered. As he spoke, he started cleaning up the counter. Tomoko starting moving things aside in hopes that she was helping him.

  
“Is that what she was trying to say?” Tomoko looked back at him quizzically. “Is she a philosopher or something?”  
Kazuki chuckled a little bit. “I doubt it,” he said. “I think it’s something else.”

  
“Whatever you say,” Tomoko shrugged. “ I wouldn’t be able to tell. I think my talent might have something to do with construction work. ”  
“What makes you think so?”

  
“There was a hammer in my room, but aside from that, I don’t have that much to go off of. Maybe I was really good at building bookshelves or something like that. ”  
“Maybe you should try it,” Kazuki suggested. “See what feels right!”

  
“You think that’ll work?” Tomoko leaned against the counter as she thought. “It isn’t a bad idea. I just don’t want to be seen wandering the hallway with a hammer. ”  
At that moment, another student came bursting into the kitchen. She had dark, messy hair that fell past her shoulders and slight bags under her eyes. Her outfit was semi-formal, with a dark vest and modest skirt. Her tie was crooked.

  
“Hey! Does anybody here know how to pick a lock? ” She asked urgently.

  
“What’s going on, Sumiko?” Kazuki started clearing his station.

  
“Masuyo shoved Copycat into a locker,” Sumiko replied. “A few halls down, I can take you there!”  
“Masuyo shoved who in a locker?” Tomoko asked.

  
“Copycat! The short girl! ” Sumiko held out a hand a bit below her shoulders as if to measure the height of the student she was talking about. “ Masuyo pushed her into a locker, and I can’t get her out!”

  
Tomoko nudged Kazuki, who was wiping down the counters. “We can clean it up later, let’s go!”  
“Can you pick a lock?” Sumiko asked again.

  
“I don’t know, but we can definitely try!” Tomoko replied awkwardly. Sumiko grimaced slightly at this but held the door open for Kazuki and Tomoko.

  
“Okay, she’s this way,” Sumiko led them down the hallway. They passed by several rows of lockers before Sumiko stopped in front of one of them. “Okay, she’s in this one.”  
From inside of the locker, a voice exactly like Sumiko’s echoed back. “In this one!” It said.

  
“Are you twins?” Tomoko asked after a moment of silent thought.

“No,” Sumiko replied. “She won’t even tell me her name. She just does this. ”She turned to the locker. “Copycat, how are you holding up in there?”

  
“Holding up!” The voice returned. An exact replication of Sumiko’s.

  
“See?” Sumiko motioned to the locker.

  
“Okay, let me try to get her out,” Kazuki said as he knelt in front of the padlock holding the door closed. He stared at it for a second before tugging on it. “I have no idea what I’m doing,” he admitted.

  
“Shit!” Tomoko exclaimed suddenly. “I have an idea! I’ll be right back! ” With that Tomoko sprinted down the hallway towards her dorm room. On her way there, she nearly ran into Miyuki again, who narrowly avoided her as she had earlier that morning. She was still reading the same book.

  
Tomoko burst into her dorm and grabbed the hammer from her bedside table before leaving again. She ran back down the hall before stopping back in front of the locker where Kazuki was still trying and failing to free the student inside.

  
“Look out,” Tomoko said. “I’m going to break the lock.”

  
Kazuki immediately jumped back from the lock upon seeing Tomoko with a hammer.

  
“Copycat?” Tomoko called into the locker. 

  
“Copycat?” A voice exactly like Tomoko’s returned from inside. That doesn't ease any anxiety Tomoko is holding in the slightest.

  
“I’m going to break off the lock with a hammer, okay?” Tomoko says. “You'll be out in no time.”

  
“Okay?” the echo replies.

  
Tomoko, running completely on instinct, takes a hold of the padlock at the curved end. She held it out and forcefully tapped at the opposite end with her hammer. A few minutes passed, but the pressure eventually forced the lock to pop open. The door of the locker opened to reveal a confused looking girl who immediately jumped out and hugged Tomoko.

  
Sumiko was right, the girl was noticeably short. She barely came past Tomoko's shoulders, though Sumiko was taller than her. Copycat's appearance was tidy but casual. She wore a striped long-sleeved shirt and jeans. Her nose and cheeks were covered in dark freckles, the same shade of brown as her hair.

  
"Thank you," Sumiko said, relief evident in her voice.

"Thank you," Copycat repeated.

With that, Copycat wandered off down the hall with Sumiko following behind her. Sumiko offered a wave and a smile as they left.

  
“What does lock picking have to do with construction work?” Tomoko finally asked out loud.

  
“I don’t know anything about either of those,” Kazuki replied nervously. “I can’t answer that! How did you know it would work? Are you an Ultimate Lock Picker? An Ultimate Thief?”

  
“I sure as Hell hope not!” Tomoko replied in an equally upset tone. “I don’t want to have to deal with the realization that I spent my life breaking into people’s houses with a hammer!”

  
“I don’t think it’s common for people to padlock their homes, though,” Kazuki offered. “Maybe you were something else?”

  
“The Ultimate Person-Who-Picks-Locks-With-A-Hammer?” Tomoko replied out loud in a confused tone. She wasn’t entirely even speaking to Kazuki anymore.

  
“Is it possible to have a talent that specific?” He shyly wondered out loud.

  
“Listen, if you say you aren’t the Ultimate Baker, then I can say I’m not the Ultimate Thief! That feels so wrong!”

  
“If I was the Ultimate Baker, I’m pretty sure those muffins would have made me cry!” Kazuki replied somewhat defensively. “I frequently cry!”

“Don’t start being the Ultimate Guilt-Tripper, now,” Tomoko accused. “I’m stressed out too!”

  
It was at this point that Kazuki started tearing up.

  
“Oh, shit,” Tomoko immediately dropped her tone. “I am so sorry, I have no idea where that came from. I did not mean that at all, I swear! You seem like a great guy, honest, I should not have gotten upset.”

  
“No, no,” Kazuki sniffed. “It’s okay, I’m just sensitive. We’re all confused, and upset, and I completely get it. You seem pretty great too.”

  
It was at this point that Masuyo walked past them, absently shoving Kazuki against the lockers with one hand. “Wimp,” she muttered under her breath. As soon as she passed them, Kazuki began crying again.

  
“Hey,” Tomoko turned to face Masuyo. “ Hey! ” She called again, louder. “Ultimate Jackass!”

  
Masuyo paused at this before turning to look back at them. “Actually, that talent doesn’t sound so bad,” she sneered. 

  
"The Hell is your problem?” Tomoko spat.

  
Masuyo shrugged before walking away.

  
Tomoko turned back to Kazuki. “Are you alright?”

  
“I’m fine,” Kazuki replied. “Just startled, it’s okay, I promise.”

  
“What’s going on out here?” A boy about the same height as Kazuki approached them. “I heard noises, are you okay?” He wore an official-looking navy suit and tie. His clothes looked as though he’d ironed them that morning. He wore a cap similar to that of an officer of some sort, though the rest of his outfit didn't seem to match this assumption.

“It’s nothing, Hiroto,” Kazuki replied. “Thanks for checking up on me, though.”

  
“Any time,” Hiroto nodded and smiled. “ Excuse me,” he turned to Tomoko. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

  
“Oh, I’m Tomoko,” she said. “Hiroto, right?” 

  
“Yes, Hiroto Adachi,” he smiled. “It’s hard, keeping track of everybody.”

  
“What do you mean?” Tomoko asked.

  
“I’m trying to make sure I can keep an eye on them all,” Hiroto replied. “To avoid a murder. It’s harder than it sounds.”

  
“How many students are there?” Kazuki asked.

  
“There are fifteen of us, total. Miyuki, Noburu, and Masuyo especially keep disappearing on me!”

  
“It isn’t like you can easily keep fifteen high schoolers in one spot for more than maybe an hour at a time,” Tomoko admitted. 

  
“I can sure as Hell try to! I don’t want anybody dying anytime soon! ” Hiroto stood straight and confident.

  
“Good luck, Hiroto,” Kazuki offered with a defeated sigh. 

  
“Stay out of trouble,” Hiroto commented before moving along down the hall.

  
“I don’t have the energy for this,” Tomoko confessed as soon as Hiroto was out of earshot. “I’m leaving.”

  
“Huh?” Kazuki looked surprised. “What if you run into somebody dangerous?”

  
“I could be dangerous if I wanted,” Tomoko reasoned. “I have a hammer.”

  
Kazuki gulped at this. 

  
“I won’t kill anybody, self-defence only,” Tomoko quickly attempted to reassure Kazuki with a smile but he only returned a fearful expression. His eyes were shifting as she looked into them. “I promise.”

  
“I don’t know you,” Kazuki replied. “Why would I trust that?”

  
“You trust me enough to idle around an empty hallway while I’m holding a hammer.”

  
“Who said I wasn’t anxious about that? I never said I wasn’t anxious about that!”

  
“I understand. I’ll see you again later today, Kazuki.”


	3. Day 2, Noon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Tomoko and Kazuki part ways, Kazuki decides to continue his exploration of the campus. Along the way he runs into even more new classmates.

As Kazuki returned to the kitchen to clean up the rest of the mess, he was met by another unfamiliar face. A woman dressed in all black next to Shiori.

The stranger was not wearing a dark dress like Shiori’s, but rather a long-sleeved shirt and pants. She wore minimalistic dark makeup and nail polish. Her bangs fell over one eye and she made no effort to brush it aside. Her hair was tawny and straight, but not nearly as dark as Shiori’s. It was short in the rear but fell nearly to her shoulders when tucked right behind her ears.

“Death is the grandest thing that can happen to an artist,” the unnamed girl said as Shiori looked on in awe. “It is only after death that we find our stride, you see. We are appreciated after we are gone. When there is no more art to give.”

“Oh, bravo, miss Amaya! Bravo!” Shiori clapped. “I consider thee a visionary! To find beauty in death is to make the most of a terrible fate!”

Kazuki winced at their conversation as he stepped by to see Rin at the counter near them. She didn’t appear to be contributing to the conversation at all but twiddled a pen between her fingers. Every few seconds she would pause to record a note.

“Excuse me, Rin,” Kazuki reached past her to grab a cloth from the counter. “I still need to finish cleaning.”

“Ah, right,” Rin stepped aside at his request. “Sorry, I was distracted.”

“Distracted by my workmanship,” Amaya, the straight-haired girl interrupted. “As I have woven a description of our captivity like a quilt!

"Sure," Rin said before returning to her notes.

“What are you writing?” Kazuki asked as he peeked over her Rin’s shoulder. Her handwriting was immaculate, organized by long subtitles separating walls of text Kazuki couldn't quite read from where he was standing.

“What I see,” Rin tapped her pencil against the page. “Full disclosure; this pencil and pad are what was left in my dorm room by Monokuma. I can at least use it to organize my thoughts. Maybe that was a part of my talent.”

“So you're investigating?” Kazuki asked without looking back to Rin as he cleaned the counter.

“I guess,” Rin huffed. “I want to keep my mind busy.” She was equally uninterested in keeping eye contact at that point. Rin continued taking her notes as she spoke.

“Maybe you could help out Hiroto. He told me he wanted to try and keep the peace.”

“That one with the suit and tie?” Rin paused her writing as she thought. “The white suit, I mean. The boy.”

“Yeah, that’s him” Kazuki nodded. “I’ve been meeting a lot of people.”

“You’re good with names?”

“Yeah, apparently,” Kazuki turned on the faucet to wash his hands after finishing up with the counter. When he turned around again, Rin was writing down another note.

“Right,” Kazuki added awkwardly. “I guess I’ll see you around?”

“I can guarantee it,” Rin answered almost dismissively. “I’ll be socializing.”

“Okay,” Kazuki said. He dried his hands before moving to leave the kitchen. “It was nice talking to you,” he said before stepping out.

“Hey!” Ryuu ran up behind him “Hold the door! Hold the door!” Kazuki barely managed to save the door for Ryuu and the two other tall students behind him. They both towered over him. In fact, Kazuki was a bit taller than Ryuu as well, but not as tall as his friends.

“We’re going to the garden!” Ryuu declared. “Noburu said there was one just outside, and I want to see how loud Yuudai can sing!”

“It’s more like musical screaming,” one of the two taller boys said from behind his scarf. He was more built than the others and wore a heavy jacket that only made him seem bigger.

“If I sing here, people will think a murder was already committed,” The third boy said. He was thin with long, straight raven hair. He wore harshly contrasting black and white makeup. Though the dark-haired boy was taller than Ryuu, the boy wearing a scarf was taller than them both.

“So we’re going outside!” Ryuu finished Yuudai’s sentence before ushering himself into the kitchen and out an exit door, minus Kazuki who followed but stayed inside. He stood in the doorway and watched as the others ran into the garden and stopped.

The voice that promptly followed was nothing like what Kazuiki had imagined being the ‘musical screaming’ that was described to him. He hadn’t been entirely sure of what to think at the time. If anything could be described as musical screaming, this was it. Yuudai's voice was ear-splittingly loud and echoed through campus, but was still recognizable as a pleasant-sounding note. He definitely felt grateful for the trio taking that outside.

Yuudai’s singing was strong enough to make Kazuki’s ears ring with the sheer volume of it. The notes he hit lasted longer than Kazuki would’ve thought possible beforehand. As Yuudai’s voice faded, Kazuki heard another clear its throat from behind him.

“Would you mind opening the door a slight bit more?” She new voice asked. Kazuki turned to be met with a well-dressed boy with broad shoulders and lithe arms. His hair was well kept save for a few dark strands that fell loose on his forehead. His skin was fair and pale against his dark suit. His jacket was long in the rear and split into two tails.

Kazuki gulped, despite the new students kindly expression, and took a step outside while still holding the door open. “Thank you,” the boy replied with a slight smile. “We haven’t met before,” he said as he stepped through the door. “My name is Takuma, a pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh- I’m Kazuki, nice to meet you, too,” Kazuki replied as he was still standing in the doorway. “Well, I’ll be on my way,” Takuma bowed slightly. “I must find the source of that voice,” his expression grew serious for a short moment.

“That was Yuudai,” Kazuki replied. “He’s outside with Ryuu and another student I don’t know by name yet.” Takuma looked behind him. “That’s Hiroshi,” he said. “We met not too long ago.”

Kazuki peeked outside again to get another look at the group. Ryuu seemed to be loudly celebrating Yuudai’s voice while Hiroshi stood stoically with his arms crossed. Despite this, he didn’t convey a threatening air. It seemed more protective than malicious. Like he was looking after them.

“Have you met everybody?” Takuma asked.

“I don’t think so,” Kazuki replied. “I’ll have to check.”

“You can see the class list on the tablets,” Takuma pointed out. “Turns out it has some use aside from being a complicated map."

“Thanks,” Kazuki nodded and fidgetted with his sleeves. “I’ll keep that in mind next time.”

“A pleasure to be of service,” Takuma smiled and puffed up his chest. “I will see you around campus in the future, Kazuki,” and with that, Takuma walked off towards Yuudai. Kazuki stood and watched them for a moment as Takuma was welcomed into the group and they exchanged distant introductions.

Kazuki closed the door leading to the garden and looked down at his Monopad. It was already past noon, and he hadn’t seen Tomoko since breakfast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the sudden hiatus, guys! I've still been working on this, but winter holidays, exams, applying to college, and work comes first! Hope you enjoyed the new chapter!


	4. Day 2, Afternoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After spending his time exploring the campus and meeting new people, Kazuki realized that he hadn't seen Tomoko all morning. He decided that he might as well check on his classmate. Turns out, she's been sleeping the whole time!

Tomoko was woken up by a quick knock at her door. Hoping she’d imagined it, Tomoko turned over on her bed. She wasn’t even under the comforter and had nothing to pull over her head but a pillow. As the knocking started again, Tomoko groaned dismally and sat up.

  
“I hear you,” she called in a hoarse voice. “Hang on.” Tomoko turned her body so her legs hung over the bed and stretched before standing up. She yawned and made her way to the door. Thankfully, each room had a one-way peephole. Tomoko looked out the opening to see Kazuki idly peering left and right down the hall on the other side.

  
Tomoko stood back and opened the door. “Hey, Kazuki. What’s the emergency? ”

  
Kazuki glanced back at Tomoko as the door opened. “Oh, no emergency,” He fidgetted. “ I was just worried, you haven’t come out of your dorm since this morning. Were you sleeping the whole time? ”

  
“Yes.”

  
“Did I wake you up?”

  
“Yes.”

  
“Oh- sorry, Tomoko, I said I was worried,” The volume of Kazuki's voice dropped a bit and he glanced away briefly. “I think we ought to look around?” His phrasing was more of a question than a statement.

  
“At what?” Tomoko asked flatly. “What’s there to see?”

  
“Uhh- well, there’s a map on the tablets we got with all the different places in the school. I left mine in my room, could we use yours? ”

  
“Yeah, sure,” Tomoko held the door open to let Kazuki in. She then walked over to her bedside table and picked up the tablet.

  
Tomoko turned on the Monopad and sorted through the interface for a while. “Hold on,” she said. “I need to find it.”

  
“Take your time,” Kazuki said as he stepped in only to resume standing awkwardly just inside the door.

  
Tomoko looked over the map. “I’ve already been to the kitchen and gym. The hallways, obviously. Sleeping quarters. ”

  
“There’s a garden, too.”

  
“I don’t want to go outside,” Tomoko pointed to her tablet. Her finger traced along the edge of a dark line. “ There’s a wall trapping us. I don’t want to see it. ”

  
Kazuki swallowed. “I forgot about that part.”

  
“The part about being prisoners?” Tomoko replied.

  
Kazuki didn’t reply.

  
“Sorry,” Tomoko interjected. “That was unnecessary, I’m sorry. It’s just a lot, you know? ”

  
“I know,” Kazuki nodded. “ I get it. ” His anxious voice grew softer.

  
Tomoko sighed. “There’s a computer lab. I doubt there’s anything we can actually use to contact anybody outside. ” Tomoko turned her tablet again to show Kazuki. “ No internet. It’s connected to a library. ”

  
“It can’t hurt to investigate though, right?” Kazuki suggested.

  
“Somebody probably already has,” Tomoko sighed.

  
“Tomoko, I think you should walk around a bit,” Kazuki offered gently. “It’ll be good for you. I’ve been meeting a lot of people, maybe I can introduce you? ”

  
“Maybe,” Tomoko said as she stood up. “Maybe.” The second time she gave her reply it came with reluctance.

  
“I want to go to the library and computer lab,” Kazuki stuttered quickly. “Will you investigate with me?”

  
Tomoko paused and hummed before replying. “Okay, sure. Let’s go,” she said before standing up.

  
Kazuki’s weary expression brightened briefly before leading the way out of Tomoko’s dorm. As Tomoko followed, she locked the door behind her.

  
“Hey, hey,” an unfamiliar voice greeted them. “ Who’re you two? ” 

  
The voice belonged to a short girl, only slightly taller than Copycat was. Her hair was short and messy as well as pitch black. Darker than Kazuki’s. She wore leggings and a large sweater. The main body of the sweater was a solid pink but had been extended at the torso and arms by patches of darker coloured fabric.

  
Kazuki glanced to Tomoko. She returned his puzzled look and then faced the new student.  
  
“I’m Tomoko,” she said. “This is Kazuki.”

  
“Cool, cool,” the stranger nodded passively. Her voice is laidback and childlike. “I’m Umeko. What’re you doing? ”

  
“Uh,” Tomoko looked to a still anxious Kazuki before continuing again. “ Leaving. ”

  
Kazuki merely nodded his approval of this and Tomoko let out a breath in response.

  
“Aw, don’t be like that,” Umeko’s monotonous tone shifted into a mild taunt. “ Afraid I’ll turn you into a patchwork quilt? ” As if to demonstrate the possibility, she brushed down the homemade ends of her oversized sweater.

  
Kazuki shuttered. As Tomoko saw this, she stiffened for a moment. “I think you should go.”

  
“I should go?” Umeko tilted her head slightly. Her eyes were tired in a similar way to Tomoko’s own. The darkness under her eyes was far more noticeable against her almost sickly pale skin. “I thought you said you were leaving, Tomoko.”

  
“I don’t have time for this,” Tomoko huffed in response before taking Kazuki by the arm and steering him down the hall.

  
“Ohh,” Umeko whistled a note as they left. “ What a lady killer! I hear he’s already got three girls on his arm! ” She chuckled as Kazuki and Tomoko turned the corner.   
Tomoko continued pulling Kazuki along until Umeko's voice had faded behind them.

  
"What the Hell was that about?" Tomoko asked. "How did you already get yourself a reputation like that?"

  
Kazuki gulped and withdrew his arm from Tomoko's grip. "Not on purpose!" He insisted. "I swear, Noburu must've started it!"

  
A short pause passed between the two as Tomoko internally decided to drop the subject. They stopped in front of a pair of double doors with a sign above them that read 'Library. ' Tomoko twisted the handle and opened the door.

  
"It's dark in here," Tomoko said as she stepped in. "Do you see the lights?"

  
Kazuki stayed near the door as Tomoko took a step farther into the darkened room. He ran his hand across the nearest wall.

  
"I'm not finding anything," he replied. "Sorry, let me keep looking, maybe they're further along."

  
As Tomoko turned and walked back to help Kazuki, the lights flicked on.

  
"Oh, nevermind," Kazuki took his hand away from the wall. " They're automa-" he paused mid-word, staring straight past Tomoko.

  
Tomoko turned around to look behind her. She let out a gasp and jumped back, nearly knocking both herself and Kazuki over finding the air to release a scream.

  
The room was lined with several bookshelves. One of them had been knocked over, books scattered on blood-stained hardwood. Directly under the heavy shelf was the body of Hiroto Adachi. His torso was likely crushed in segments, as there was very little room between the shelves and the floor. His hat was askew on his head, knocked aside enough that Tomoko and Kazuki could see his face. Eyes wide and bloodshot. Mouth slightly open and crooked. One arm reached out from under the cabinet, the other was pinned beneath his own body.

  
Hidden speakers through the school buzzed to life.

  
"Attention students of Hope's Peak Academy," Monokuma's shrill voice echoed through the halls. He cleared his throat before continuing with his announcement. "A body has been discovered! Later today, we will host the class trial to find the culprit! Until then, you lot oughta drag yourselves down to the library and get investigating! Oh, and before I forget; all your talents are now visible on the class list. Happy scavenging, you mutts! " With a cackle and a click, the announcement was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First death! First death, woo! Who's psyched? I know I am! As always thank you so much for keeping up to date with this story so far! The drama is only going to pick up from here!


	5. Investigation 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the death of Hiroto in the library, Tomoko begins the first investigation.

Overwhelming nausea rocked Tomoko to her core and knocked her off balance at the grisly sight of Hiroto's body. Her shallow breath came in gasps as she stared into his bloodshot eyes. They were open and rolled upwards. His face was pale and his lips were a faint blue.

  
"Oh my God- oh my God-" Kazuki was in a similar state. Both of his hands were tangled in his violet hair and tears pricked his sunken eyes. Behind the two of them was a sudden crescendo of footsteps.

  
"I knew you two were up to something suspicious!" Umeko called behind them. "I just thought you were canoodling, but murder is even worse!" This was followed by a rapid change in her expression. It shifted from an accusatory glare to an intrigued sneer. "Can I see?"

  
"See? See what? " Ryuu bounded in. " What're we seeing-" he cut himself off with a sharp gasp. He froze stiff as all his energy seemed to drain immediately. "Hiroto?" He stepped farther into the room.

  
"He's so dead," Umeko said as she looked down at Hiroto's body. "Is that what his name was? Hiroto? I don't think we met."

  
"He was a supercool guy, don't be rude!" Ryuu puffed out his cheeks angrily before kneeling by Hiroto's body. "I didn't think it was for real…"

  
"It's super real," Umeko said as she prodded at Hiroto's outstretched arm with the toe of her sneaker. "That's a dead body."

  
Tomoko nearly gagged. More footsteps came from behind them accompanied by the gasps of their classmates as people filed into the room one by one. 

  
“Who is it?” Rin pushed through, still holding her notepad. When she saw Hiroto’s body, her breath hitched. 

  
“Hey, on the bright side, we can know our talents now,” Umeko said. “Isn’t that exciting?”

  
“Shut up, pipsqueak, can’t you read the room?” Masuyo’s rough voice cut through the tension. “Move the Hell aside, this isn’t a time to be mourning or throwing up. If we don’t get this investigation done, it’s gonna be us next.”

  
Tomoko tensed up as Masuyo walked past her to stand by Hiroto. She crouched down and looked closely at Hiroto’s body before grabbing onto the side of the shelf collapsed on top of him. Masuyo struggled against the shelf, barely lifting it at all. 

  
“Fuck it,” Masuyo dropped the barely lifted shelf back onto Hiroto’s body, which resounded with a sickening thud. 

  
“What the Hell?!” Tomoko rushed over immediately. “What is wrong with you?” She spat.

  
“I just can’t lift it on my own, dumbass,” Masuyo hissed back.

  
“Now now,” Amaya took a graceful step forward. “ Is this any way to behave in the presence of the dear departed? We should launch our criminal investigation, I think. ” Her voice was harmonious as always.

  
“Are all of these shelves dangerous?” Kazuki asked warily. “What if somebody else is killed while we’re searching?”

  
At that moment, a mechanical laugh prematurely announced the appearance of Monokuma “ I can answer that for you! ” He declared as he suddenly manifested in the library with them. 

  
Shiori’s glittering eyes lit up further at the appearance of Monokuma. “Still so cute,” she said under her breath. Kazuki took a step away from her.

  
“Only one kill at a time!” Monokuma said. “If another murder is committed during the investigation, only the first killer will be punished!” Another cackle.

  
“You’re telling me that if two people commit murder on the same day only one of them has to die?” Ryuu asked. “That’s the worst!” He stomped. 

  
“Well, hey, that’s only if you catch the proper killer!” Monokuma reminded. 

  
“God damn it all,” Tomoko breathed out. “ Are you trying to distract us?”

  
“If you’re distracted, that’s your own fault!” Monokuma sneered back. “I’m trying to explain the rules to you brick-heads in case you forgot! There's a time limit to this mystery, so get to it!”

  
“Get to it,” Copycat mimicked forlornly. 

  
“I know, Copycat,” Sumiko was still at her side. “ Where do we start? ” She seemed to ask nobody in particular.

  
“With the body, duh,” Umeko replied. 

  
“I wish to reveal the truth of our abilities!” Shiori interrupted. “Mister Bear, will our talents be listed on the tablets?”

  
“They sure will be! See, why can’t you ungrateful little shits be more like Shiori? She’s having a grand old time, making the most of the rest of her life!”

  
“Well I can’t say I don’t find the philosophy appealing,” Amaya spoke up. “Surely the next death is just around the corner.”

  
“It definitely will be if we don’t start investigating now!” Tomoko exclaimed. 

  
Monokuma let out a dramatic gasp. “Well, then I’ll just take my leave. I know when I’m not wanted! A poor old teacher with students who don’t care about him… ” As he sulked out the door and down the hall, he continued to mope.

  
“Okay, first thing’s first,” Masuyo massaged the bridge of her nose with one hand. “ What the fuck is our deal? With the motive and the talent and whatnot. I need to know.”

  
“Then look at your tablet,” Tomoko said before walking towards the crime scene. “My first step is actually investigating the death itself.”

  
“You’re kind of a bitch,” Masuyo sneered. 

  
“Whatever, Masuyo. I want this over with and the rest of us alive, do you understand?”

  
“You’re forgetting half of the deal,” Masuyo hissed back. “Another one of us is going to die either way.”

  
“I’d rather have one of us die than all of us die!” Tomoko defended before shoving past Masuyo to investigate Hiroto’s corpse. Copycat followed her, dragging an unwilling Sumiko by the hand.

  
As Tomoko knelt by Hiroto’s body, so did Copycat. She let go of Sumiko’s hand, but Sumiko didn’t move from where she’d been left. She stood still and stared at Hiroto's body with an expression of cold horror. 

  
Tomoko removed Hiroto’s hat to get a better look at his face. Copycat then reached out as well. Now that there was nothing to grab, Copycat decided to just brush Hiroto’s dark hair away from his eyes instead. 

  
“What are you doing?” Tomoko asked as she set the hat aside.

  
“What are you doing?” Copycat mimicked. 

  
Tomoko paused for a short second. “Investigating.”

  
“Investigating,” Copycat repeated.

  
Another brief pause. “Okay, thank's for lending me a hand.” Tomoko sat back and turned to Sumiko. “If you’re going to stay here, do you mind helping us out?”

  
Sumiko seemed to jump slightly at being called to. She fidgeted and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I- yeah, I don’t mind as long as you don’t,” she replied. “How can I help?”

  
Tomoko paused to once again look over Hiroto’s expression. The once stoic face was frozen in contorted anguish. Books were scattered around his body. 

  
“I’m going to try and lift the shelf. You grab onto the other side and we'll do it together.”

  
“Okay!” Sumiko stumbled forward. Tomoko tried lifting the bookshelf. She managed more distance than Masuyo before shifting her weight under the shelf. Sumiko caught the opposite side and together they managed to steadily place it upright again. Copycat clapped as they replaced the bookshelf.

  
"Could there be clues having to do with the books?" Kazuki suggested.

  
"Damn it, they’re just books! This doesn't help us at all," Masuyo huffed.

  
"Don't jump to conclusions," Tomoko corrected. "Any hint is valuable right now."

  
"Any hint is valuable!" Copycat repeated before reaching out for a book of her own. She picked up a thick hardcover and started flipping through it. Confusion was evident on Copycat's face as she read.

  
"Dear companions, I have made a wonderful discovery!" Shiori chirped up. "I have recalled my Ultimate with the assistance of this wonderful tablet!"

  
"Our talents may be a hint, too," Kazuki looked over her shoulder. Shiori was more than happy to lean back and let him see, which made him jump back a bit.

  
"Look, Kazuki, I was correct to accuse you before!" Shiori declared. "You're the Ultimate Toxicologist!"

  
Kazuki turned pale at this sudden realization. He read over the list himself.

  
" Why would you yell that out? " Kazuki asked wearily.

  
"Simply my nature, dearest," Shiori replied in a song-like tone. "Do you see? I'm the Storyteller!"

  
Tomoko looked at her own tablet to look at the class list. It included the images and names of every student. She scrolled down the page, reading every name and talent that was listed.

  
** CLASS LIST:   
**Amaya Kutsuki - Ultimate Slam Poet  
Umeko Mori \- Ultimate Taxidermist  
Hiroshi Kudo - Ultimate Figure Skater  
Takuma Onishi \- Ultimate Conductor  
Yuudai Ota \- Ultimate Vocalist  
??? - Ultimate Copycat  
Masuyo Tanji \- Ultimate Villain  
Shiori Machida \- Ultimate Storyteller  
Ryuu Obara \- Ultimate Party Animal  
Kazuki Hattori \- Ultimate Toxicologist  
Miyuki Rie \- Ultimate Miss Magoo  
Tomoko Sonada \- Ultimate Jack-of-all-Trades  
Noburu Sora - Ultimate Hide and Seek  
Hiroto Adachi \- Ultimate Pilot  
Sumiko Yamane \- Ultimate Linguist  
Rin Suzuki - Ultimate Sociologist  
??? \- ???  
  
“I’m going to take one of the books with me,” Rin spoke up. “ Don’t mind my musings, but I wish to look around wherever the majority of people are. ” She picked up one of the books from the pile on the floor and flipped through it. As she skimmed the pages, nothing in her expression changed.

  
“I’m done here,” Masuyo threw her hands up in defeat. “Maybe there’s something else for me to look at. I won’t be getting anything done around you fucking people, I know that for certain.”

  
“I wish to follow,” Amaya commented. “There is too much happening around me at once,” she sighed.

  
“Sure, gloomy. Do whatever the Hell you want to,” Masuyo replied dismissively.

  
“I always do,” Amaya smiled.

  
“It’s probably best we stay in a group though,” Kazuki said. “What if somebody gets attacked?”

  
“Why the fuck would I get attacked,” Masuyo snapped back. “You heard the bear; only the first killer gets a shot at leaving.”

  
“I’m not concerned about _you_ getting attacked, Masuyo,” Tomoko stared at her as she spoke.

  
Masuyo stared right back before she turned and left the library with Amaya trailing behind her. 

  
Masuyo practically stomped down the hall, passing by a lingering Miyuki who was peeking into the room from outside. She was looking into the room with her book still open but slightly lowered.

  
“Dead body?” Miyuki said as Masuyo walked by her. Masuyo stopped to look at her. Opaque glasses hid Miyuki’s eyes, but the thin line of her mouth betrayed stress.

  
“Hiroto is dead,” Masuyo replied grimly. “Say; you read too much. Why don’t you make yourself useful and study that class list for us?”

  
Miyuki paused for a moment as her grave expression relaxed. 

  
“I’m already on it, miss.”

  
“It’s Masuyo.” The correction was blunt.

  
“Masuyo,” Miyuki repeated dully. Masuyo then decided that continuing their conversation wasn’t worth her time.  She continued down the hall.

  
“I wonder where that upside-down hanging lad has gone,” Amaya commented as she continued to follow Masuyo.

  
“If he doesn’t show up, I think it’s safe to assume he’s the killer. Everybody else showed up.”

  
“Then it wasn’t you?” Amaya’s voice is saccharine and teasing.

  
“Do I look like the kind of person who spends time in a library?” Masuyo replied in an agitated tone. 

  
“I shouldn't judge. You don’t look like a murderer, either.”

  
“What do I look like to you?” Masuyo crossed her arms as Amaya caught up to her. For a while, they walked side by side.

  
“You look like a tall woman with short red hair. You wear a hat and a burgundy suit. You have freckles, too.  Do you have family from outside of Japan?”

  
“I don’t need to share that,” Masuyo raised an eyebrow.

  
“Naturally, I’m just speculating. What can I know about you?”

  
“My talent,” Masuyo replied under her breath. “Apparently I’m the Ultimate Villain.”

  
“I’m the Ultimate Slam Poet,” Amaya said. “Are you disappointed in your talent? I feel that mine flatters me. Like I’d recovered something essential that was missing. I felt somewhat desolate without knowing I was an artist.”

  
“I don’t care about my fucking talent,” Masuyo huffed. “It isn’t like I chose it myself.”

  
“You haven't answered me. Do you dislike your talent?”

  
“No," Masuyo responded swiftly. "It’s what I’m good at. I’ve already been making people around me miserable. I must’ve been awful before now. I said I didn't care. Understand? Making people miserable is what I’m good at.”

  
“Perhaps you should become an artist, then.”

  
The speakers in the hallway buzzed to life. “Thirty-minute warning!” Monokuma’s voice echoed. “Wrap up your investigations fast and report to the main lobby! Once you’ve all arrived, the elevators will be unlocked. All students not in the lobby in 30 minutes will be considered already dead and you will be left behind! It's the trial or your life!” His cackle was interrupted as the hallway was once again filled with dreary silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the time it took to publish this chapter! Quarantine is kicking my ass, but I'm still writing!


	6. Trial 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the investigation of Hiroto's death, Monokuma brings all of his students into their very first class trial. Tomoko has to use the evidence she's gathered to convict Hiroto's murderer or die trying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I got comments showing interest in seeing drawings of my characters, so I decided I'd include a link to my DeviantArt where I'd be posting those! Thanks a bunch for reading, you guys!
> 
> https://www.deviantart.com/katiejane2001/art/Fanganronpa-Twenty-Something-Cast-batch-1-841180998

As they made their way down the hall, the air had never been heavier. The students gathered in the lobby in front of the condemned elevator waiting for Monokuma.

  
“We needn’t fret!” Shiori’s voice chirped above the silence. “In harrowing tales such as these, evil never prevails!”

  
“Yeah, that’s really fucking reassuring,” Masuyo replied stiffly.

  
“This is not a fairytale,” Amaya butted in. “ Though it never hurts to have hope, please retain your practicality. We all will die someday, you know. ”

  
“Well maybe we don’t want that day to be today!” Ryuu yelled frantically from his usual spot beside a completely silent Hiroshi. “I have shit I wanted to do, youknow! Hell, I don’t want you guys to die either! ”

  
“Thank you,” Hiroshi monotonously said from behind his scarf.

  
Tomoko stood completely silent, trying her best to block out the sounds of bickering around her. Kazuki was beside Tomoko again, along with Sumiko. Copycat held Sumiko’s hand tightly and hid behind her like a frightened child. Sumiko placed a hand on Copycat’s head, trying and failing to soothe her. Tomoko looked up to see an expression that was a collection of cold dread.

  
Kazuki wasn’t holding up much better. He was still doing his damndest to keep distance from Shiori, who was now once again in deep conversation with Amaya.

  
“How are you guys holding up,” Tomoko asked warily, despite knowing that the answer would be unpleasant.

  
Copycat didn’t reply to her. Instead, she squeezed Sumiko’s hand a bit tighter.

  
“I’m uh,” Kazuki took a breath as he thought of an answer. “ I’m alive. ”

  
“Good,” Tomoko huffed in a way that wasn’t at all confident. “ Keep yourself that way. ”

  
“Hello, students!” Monokuma’s shrill voice boomed over all of them before he appeared in front of the locked elevator door. “Glad to see you’re all here. Looks like you all get to live a little bit longer! At least until our class trial reaches its conclusion! ” He giggled behind his paws before stepping to the left. Once he was out of the way, the door opened to reveal an elevator car wide enough to fit every student inside with some extra space between them.

  
The  students filtered into the space one by one, some shoving each other to  try and  be the last one in. Once everybody had dragged themselves through the  doors ,  Monokuma followed in behind them. The elevator doors creaked closed and began its descent with an echoing clank.   
  
Tomoko could feel heat on her brow as she held her eyes to the floor. She didn’t look up again until another mechanical clunk signalled that the elevator had come to a halt. The students exited with the same reluctance they had while entering.

  
The circular courtroom was tense. The acrid scent of metal that hung in the air of the dome-shaped enclosure was heavy. Tomoko found it reminiscent the smell of Hiroto’s blood in the library. There were 16 stands in the room, all but two with a name listed on them. One of them had a portrait of Hiroto's lifeless face placed in a gilded frame and placed with care. Tomoko stared into the eyes of Hiroto's corpse as she made her way to the stand that read her name. Silence amplified heavy footsteps as her classmates did the same.

  
Copycat nearly seemed to sob as she was separated from Sumiko. Much to Tomoko’s dismay, she’d been placed directly across from Masuyo.

  
“Tomoko,” the familiar voice of Miyuki came from her left. “ Hi. ”

  
“Hi,” Tomoko replied under her breath.

  
On Tomoko’s right, Copycat was pale and silent.

  
“Alright kids, let’s go over some rules! Pay attention. You know how I feel about interruptions! ” Monokuma called over them from his place on a throne made of what looked to be gold and velvet. “ Welcome to the class trial! Here, you will share your findings from the investigation and decide on who the killer is! When I decide you’ve had enough time, and your time runs out when I get bored, you’ll all get to vote for whodunnit! If you vote correctly, blackened will be punished accordingly. If you guess wrong, all the innocents will be punished instead and the killer will go free! ”

  
Tomoko gulped.

  
“Ready? Go! ” Monokuma cackled as he declared the beginning of the class trial.

  
“I suspect Masuyo!” Shiori blurted out, fidgeting with the frills of her dress. Her voice carried through the room. “Her talent is the Ultimate Villain, you see? Who else could it possibly be but her? ”

  
“If you don’t start taking this shit seriously, I’ll give this courtroom another fucking murder to investigate,” Masuyo spat. “ It wasn’t me, murder is too risky. ”   
“Too risky,” Copycat repeated in Masuyo’s voice.

  
“Okay, everybody stop,” Tomoko interrupted impatiently. “We aren’t going to get anywhere by just throwing accusations out and not actually thinking about was found during the investigation.”

  
“Finally, something we can fucking agree on,” Masuyo huffed. “Besides, I asked the bookworm to do some reading into that list for me before we got here. The blondie with the glasses, what’s your name? ” Masuyo pointed to her target from across the courtroom.

  
“My name is Miyuki,” the girl in question replied. “ It’s okay, we haven’t spoken much. ” For the first time ever, Miyuki wasn't reading as she spoke. Her book sat closed on her podium. “I did review the talents, but I don’t think they’re enough to make a conviction off of. Remember our motive; we were all given items relating to our talents that we could use to kill someone. ”

  
“Big words for such a quiet girl,” Ryuu commented. If Miyuki was offended, it wasn’t visible on her face. “We saw Hiroto’s body, though! He was crushed to death by a bookshelf! ”

  
“Well maybe somebody used their tool to topple the bookshelf?” Sumiko suggested.

  
“Topple the bookshelf,” Copycat nodded. “ Their tool. Too risky. ”She swapped between Sumiko and Masuyo’s voices as she spoke.

  
Tomoko thought about this for a moment. “I guess the use of a tool we were given and our talents being known could give away who committed the murder. We didn’t find anything strange left behind, though. It was just books and the shelf. ”

  
“Who’s to say any of us used our possessions at all,” Takuma spoke up. “ Perhaps we should repeat what we were given. I am the Ultimate Conductor, and as such I received a baton. ”

  
“We can’t prove who had what,” Sumiko added anxiously. “If one of us is the killer, how can we tell who’s lying about what they got?”

  
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Masuyo interrupted. “I was given a knife.”

  
Tomoko shivered at that before speaking up. “I had a hammer,” she said.

  
“That’s true,” Sumiko offered. “You used it to break Copycat out of the locker, so it must be true!”

  
“Stay on topic,” Miyuki added. “I found my book in my room.”

  
“How exactly does your talent work?” Umeko asked. “Mine is pretty straightforward. I’m the Ultimate Taxidermist and have some grey crystals in a container and a pair of gloves. The container is labelled as ‘arsenic,’ but I haven’t tried to test it out yet. Your talent is weird, though. The Ultimate Miss Magoo? ”

  
“I looked into that, too,” Miyuki assured. “I actually found out that by tapping on names in the class list, I could read more about their talents. Mine is a sort of luck. I can’t injure myself, but it only works while I’m not paying attention. So far, that part always comes naturally,” she fidgeted with her hair a bit as she spoke.

  
“Oh- I’m the Ultimate Linguist,” Sumiko spoke up again. “ I was given a book, too. ”

  
“So you both got a book?” Ryuu asked. “Man, you guys got shafted. Oh, right, I’m the Ultimate Party Animal and I got some weird unlabeled pills that I didn’t have the guts to touch. ”

  
“To be fair, mine seems to be necessary for my talent,” Miyuki spoke up again. “ I don’t know about using it as an actual weapon. As a defence, maybe, but not a weapon. ”   
“I received a notebook and pen,” Rin added. “I doubt they were meant to be close-quarters weapons. However, now that I know I am the Ultimate Sociologist, the use of it makes more sense. ”

  
“What’s that?” Noburu asked. “Oh, I’m the Ultimate Hide and Seek and I found some rope in my room. I guess it could be used for lots of things, actually. ”

  
“Simple,” Rin replied. “Sociology is the study of people. So, I’ve been studying you. ”

  
“Sounds invasive,” Yuudai croaked.

  
“Not truly,” Rin replied with a wave of her right hand. She still held her pencil and notebook. “I usually wouldn’t interfere with a study, but considering the circumstances, I have no choice. I’m a subject myself. Speaking of the subjects; what was your object, Yuudai? ”

  
“A microphone,” he replied. “The cord is long and tough. The equipment is bulky. I doubt it would even provide very high-quality sound. Isn’t worth anything at all. ” He lowered his head and narrowed his eyes at this. Despite Yuudai’s heavy makeup, his distasteful expression was obvious.

  
“I see.” For a short moment, the only sound in the courtroom was pounding blood and Rin’s pen.

  
“Who hasn’t talked yet?” Tomoko asked.

  
“I think that the flowers I got in my room are supposed to be poisonous,” Kazuki stammered over his words.

  
“Figure skates,” Hiroshi said clearly. “I’m the Ultimate Figure Skater. They’re too sharp to wear. ”

  
“Talked yet!” Copycat waved one hand as if waiting to be called on by a teacher.

  
Monokuma let out an exaggerated yawn. “You can talk out of turn as much as you want to! Somebody start a fight. I’m getting bored! ”

  
“Out of turn, shafted!” Copycat swapped between Monokuma’s voice and Ryuu’s as she spoke.

  
Sumiko seemed to immediately respond to Copycat.

  
“Your item, Copycat,” she paused. “ Do you know 20 questions? Is your item big or small? ”

  
“Or,” Copycat replied. “ Isn’t… Anything at all,” she said, borrowing Yuudai’s voice.

  
“You didn’t get an item?” Sumiko asked gently?

  
“Didn’t get an item,” Copycat confirmed.

  
“Oh I forgot about that!” Monokuma interrupted again. “Not sorry to throw a wrench in your trial, but I was totally banking on Copycat to be the first victim! You can’t blame me. There’s no way she’d last forever! ”

  
Sumiko turned pale. “What?” She stammered.

  
“Copycat was supposed to die first! I thought it would be a waste to give her an item since there was no way she was killing anybody. She’s a target! This was supposed to be level one, but one of you decided to make this difficult! You’ve only got yourselves to blame! ” He laughed.

  
“I can kinda see it,” Masuyo commented. “If anybody was going to be a target, it makes sense that it would be Copycat.”

  
Sumiko immediately turned to confront her. “Don’t you dare even consider it!”

  
“Consider what, killing her? Jesus Christ- why the fuck would I be considering that right now!?” Masuyo bellowed back. “I want to live too, you know! Now listen; something about this isn’t adding up. Why was Hiroto killed? He wasn’t exactly a scrawny guy. ”

  
“What does that mean for the investigation?" Tomoko asked.

  
"It is to my belief that the weaker of us should be dismissed of suspicion!" Shiori chirped.

  
"No, that's wrong!" Tomoko exclaimed.

  
Her classmates seemed to snap to attention as Tomoko's defiant voice echoed through the room.

  
“Listen; it’s unreasonable to start dismissing weaker people because of the way Hiroto's body was found,” Tomoko explained. “When we found Hiroto’s body in the library, he was being crushed. I could barely lift the shelf myself. This doesn’t mean most of us can be dismissed, though. It just means our killer pushed down that shelf instead of using an outright attack. Somebody who couldn’t have attacked Hiroto head-on could have easily still committed the murder because it was the bookshelf that killed him. ”

  
“If that’s the case,” Masuyo spoke up challengingly. “ How do you know that Hiroto wasn’t killed before he was crushed by the shelf? ”

  
“I know!” Umeko piped up. “I did a bit of poking around his body. Sure enough, he was cold as ice by the time we got there. He was bleeding internally and externally, hence why he was so cold. Must’ve been left to fend for himself based on how he died. He had one arm pinned under him and the other reaching out. The most telling thing though was his expression. Poor Hiroto, scared out of his mind. He was definitely crushed to death. I could tell by his eyes. ”   
If Umeko was aware of the disturbed reactions her classmates exhibited in response to her explanation, she returned no signs of caring.

  
“The bookshelf had no solid back, so when it fell on him, Hiroto would have been pelted with books and crushed in segments,” Umeko concluded her explanation with a careless nod back to Tomoko. “Anything to add, Jack?”

  
“Wait!” Noburu spoke up suddenly, startling Tomoko. “You mentioned bleeding on the outside of his body, right? External bleeding or whatever. You’re telling me some stupid books did all that? ”

  
“Well, not all of it,” Umeko replied without missing a beat. “They would’ve done most of the damage, but that shelf will have pooled all of Hiroto’s blood. He got unlucky. ”

“I can’t believe it was just some books that did it!” Noburu said. “That must be proof he was attacked before he was crushed!”

  
“Proof!” Copycat interrupted urgently before motioning to Sumiko. “Some books,” she called again.

  
Sumiko seemed to flinch before glancing behind her to pick up something she’d left on the ground behind her. She returned with a massive hardcover book, dropping it with a dull thud onto her podium.

  
“Sorry I didn’t bring it up earlier,” Sumiko stammered. “It’s really heavy. Copycat asked me to take it with us. ”

  
“That is one of the books from the library,” Miyuki confirmed. “ From what I can remember, everything on that shelf was a hardcover. Thick as a dictionary, too. ”

  
“So it’s completely possible that the bookscaused Hiroto’s external injuries!” Umeko interrupted smugly. “See that? I was right all along! ”

  
“ Fine ,  fine , I  get it,”  Noburu sunk back a  bit . He held a hurt look on his face.

  
“Don’t worry about it,” Miyuki said. “It’s important we all are on the same page. The majority of us need to vote for the right killer, after all. ” Her expression was partially obscured by thick glasses, but her mouth was drawn in a thin line. Miyuki’s hands gripped the podium before her.

  
“I suppose this begs the question of who actually committed the crime,” Takuma said as he tapped his chin thoughtfully. “ Not to say our efforts were for nothing, but all that this has proven is that anybody could have killed Hiroto. Unless somebody has an accusation, alibi or a reason for somebody to be anywhere near the library. ”

  
Tomoko thought about this for a moment, her heart pounding.

  
“Monokuma,” Miyuki’s voice interrupted the gloom. “ I have a question about the court proceedings. ”

  
“Ohh, are you trying to pull a fast one? Find some kind of loophole? Well, you can’t! ” Monokuma punctuated this threat with his signature laugh.

  
“Are we allowed to pass evidence from podium to podium? I’m near-sighted and want to take a closer look at the book Sumiko brought with her. ”

  
“Oh.” Monokuma paused for a second. “I was kind of expecting something more from you, four eyes. You’re so boring! Of course, you can pass the evidence around! What kind of judge would I be if I disallowed the jury from seeing vital pieces for the case! ”

  
“O-oh, okay,” Sumiko said before warily passing the book to her right. "Be careful, it's heavy."

  
The book was passed to each student one by one. Rin and Miyuki especially looked over it with interest. Once the book finally reached Tomoko, she was the only one who hadn’t seen it yet. Sumiko seemed to watch intently from her podium as Tomoko opened the book.  Tomoko turned the pages but found nothing legible at all. She furrowed her brow.

  
“I can’t understand any of this,” Tomoko said aloud with a huff. She returned the book to Sumiko.

  
“Is it just me or was every page in that book complete gibberish?” Ryuu asked bluntly.

  
“Every page!” Copycat emphasized. “Every… Book complete gibberish. ”

  
“They were all like that?” Masuyo asked. “Well, shit- what does that mean for us?”

  
“I suspect our killer may not have realized the implications of their trap,” Amaya spoke up. “ I for one hadn’t had time to properly explore the library, yet. Though this may narrow our list to several bookworms who I can envision would have known the layout of that place by now. ”

  
“It’s all Greek to me,” Rin stated flatly. “The books, I mean. Though I assume I am one of the people you speak of? I had been intent on finding some sort of research papers I could cite for my study of behaviour through the killing game. ”

  
“I really don’t want to be thinking about you studying our behaviour right now,” Sumiko’s voice wavered.

  
“I figure it’s important regardless of whether you want to hear it,” Rin replied coldly. “I simply am providing the information Amaya eluded to. I was indeed a visitor to the library. However, to my dismay, there don’t seem to be any scientific studies at all. Once I discovered this, I lost interest. This was the other day, however. ”

  
“I visited in search of sheet music or staff paper,” Takuma said. “While I did find my sheet music, the books are thin so they can be placed on a stand during performances. A hardcover book of sheet music is like a musical oxymoron. It can’t be used. ”

  
“Right,” Miyuki said as if hoping to move on. “I haven’t been to the library at all,” she said. “I found my reading book in my dorm and therefore have no reason to look for another one.”

  
The students who had explained their testimonies all expectantly turned to Sumiko. Takuma’s usually calm expression had been replaced with one of scorn. Rin only looked for a moment before preparing a note. Miyuki’s expression was unreadable behind her relaxed frown.

  
“Sumiko, you’re the Ultimate Linguist,” Miyuki spoke. “ Do you recognize the language of the books found at the crime scene? ”

  
Sumiko seemed to choke back tears. “... It’s an ancient Mongolian script. ”

  
Copycat immediately let out a betrayed shriek. She carried nobody’s voice but her own as she did, devolving into incomprehensible cries. Sumiko stared back at Copycat before her tears finally overflowed.

  
“Sumiko, why would you do this?!” Ryuu yelled. His ordinary upbeat tone had turned to sharp gravel.

  
“I didn’t mean to!” Sumiko cried back. Her strangled voice shattered with the effort of speaking over her growing sobs. “I didn’t know who was there! I was in the library alone when I heard somebody come in. It was late, I didn’t know what else to do so I hid! I hid behind the bookshelf and leaned against it and when Hiroto passed on the other side-” Sumiko’s sobs turned into shaking wails. “I never meant to hurt anyone!” She screamed. “I tried to get him out! I couldn’t get the shelf to move, and- and I stayed with him, he wouldn’t let me go-”

  
Copycat seemed to echo Sumiko’s cries as the jury watched her confession with dismay.

  
“I couldn’t leave until he let go of my arm,” Sumiko said finally.

  
“I think we’ve heard enough,” Monokuma said. “What do you all think? Kidding! That's all up to me! I say it’s voting time! Don’t forget to vote for who you think should get the boot, or you’ll be punished accordingly! ”

  
As Monokuma said this, the podiums before them opened up to realize a tablet screen listing the names and faces of those in the class. Tomoko stared down at her screen before looking up again at Sumiko, whose uncontrollable tears were falling onto the surface of the device. Tomoko immediately looked away again. She tried her best to tune out the violent sobbing beside her as she selected Sumiko’s name.

  
“The results are in!” Monokuma declared as another screen lowered behind her. On the screen, the faces of the students appeared just as they had on the tablet. Several of the faces became greyed out. “Looks like a few of you didn’t get any votes at all,” Monokuma observed. “Lucky you!”

  
A pit formed in Tomoko’s stomach as she realized that the tallies being drawn on the screen behind Monokuma were a tally of votes for each student.

  
Miyuki Rie: 2

Sumiko Yamane: 13

  
Tomoko glanced at Miyuki, hoping to gauge a reaction from her. Miyuki’s expression was as unreadable as it had been before the conviction. Despite this, Tomoko could swear that she saw the corner of Miyuki's mouth twist into a gentle scowl.

  
“You know what that means!” Monokuma leapt to his feet as a judge’s gavel appeared in his paws.

  
Before Monokuma could finish his statement, Copycat flung herself towards Sumiko. She wailed desperately and clung to the blackened as if she intended to weigh her down.

  
“Copycat-” Sumiko pleaded desperately, squeezing the smaller girl’s shoulders. “ Copycat, let go of me! ”

  
Copycat wailed in protest.

  
“Copycat, you need to let go!” Sumiko yelled before shoving her away. Copycat stumbled back and fell with a thud to the courtroom floor.

  
“It’s punishment time!”

  
Just as soon as Sumiko opened her mouth to apologize, a metal collar clamped itself around her neck and dragged her away by the chain. Copycat screamed again as she watched Sumiko being torn away from them.

  
  
** Execution: Stairway To The Heavens! **   
  
Sumiko found herself in the desert at the base of a massive tower. As she shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand, she looked up to see the top of the structure. It disappeared into the clouds far above her.

  
Just as she turned to climb the winding staircase wrapping around the tower, Sumiko heard a nearby rumbling. She turned to see a mob of Monokuma clones running for her with their claws ready to rend her apart. With a short scream, Sumiko began sprinting up the stairs.

  
As she ran up the gaunt tower, Sumiko’s legs began to ache. Her feet pounded against the cracked stone and the sun bore down on her. The closer she came to her clouds above her, the hotter she became. She could feel her exposed skin burning in the light. Sumiko refused to slow down, as the pounding sound of Monokuma in pursuit urged her forwards.

  
Just as Sumiko was near the cloud barrier, she heard a loud rumbling from behind her. She kept running, though the spire was now beginning to lean to one side. Stones cracked and stairs crumbled. Dozens upon dozens of Monokuma clones plummeted from the structure, all of which failed to catch Sumiko in their claws.   
Sumiko thrust her hand forwards to reach through the wall of white at the tip of the tower before the stairs beneath her finally gave way. She scrambled to find purchase again. Sumiko rolled her ankle and cracked her nails as she struggled before finally plummeting from the tower and into the sea of grinding metal below her.   
  



	7. Day 2, Evening/Day 3, Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the first class trial concludes, Copycat finds herself without Sumiko to rely on. In response to these circumstances she opts to keep to herself. This works well enough, at least until the next motive is announced.

Copycat silently stared at Sumiko’s shattered body from her place on the hardwood floor. The corpse's clothes were torn apart and bloodied, frayed by dull metal. Sumiko was now a twisted frame of something that once was supposed to be there to hold Copycat’s hand and lead her to quiet places to rest her ears . Copycat's tears came silently before she scrambled to her feet again. She flung herself towards the thick bars that separated the trial room from the stage that had hosted Sumiko’s absurd and wicked execution. She grabbed onto the bars as if willing herself to pull them apart.

  
“And thus concludes our very first class trial! You’re all free to head back to your dorms, as it is now nighttime! Our trial ran a fair bit longer than I expected, but it was worth it! ” Monokuma’s last two words were sung rather than spoken. “ All of you little punks file back into that elevator nice and orderly, no shoving!”

  
Copycat heard the metallic doors opening at the opposite end of the room as per Monokuma’s order but didn’t turn to see them. Instead, she stood at the bars, reaching through at nothing. Her voice was still trapped in her throat. Behind her, Copycat ignored the heavy dragging footsteps of her classmates and the scratching of Rin’s pen. She didn’t notice the steady approaching steps behind her before a gentle hand found itself resting on her shoulder.

  
Copycat immediately whirled around with a silent snap at the unknown person behind her. Amaya hardly flinched at Copycat’s grieved expression.   
“It is hardly fair to you, I know,” Amaya said softly. “You are so young. A freshman?”

  
Copycat did nothing but stare back at her, hoping that somehow she’d be able to intimidate the far taller girl into leaving her alone. Amaya’s eyes were half lidded and glossy. Copycat seemed to relax a bit more as she studied Amaya’s face. She didn’t look away. Amaya was, oddly enough, lacking any semblance of her usual slight smile.  
Copycat finally shrugged. She couldn’t remember her own age.

  
“Oh, my. Well, I’m sure it is in the tablets we were given. You are so small for your age, too. Not to be offensive towards you or anything. ” Amaya’s offered smile was hollow but not devoid of warmth. “Do not worry for the moment, alright? It is unwise to spend the time we have left dwelling on what makes us miserable.”

  
Copycat reluctantly nodded her head.

  
“Now then, we ought to join the others.” Amaya turned and started walking back toward the elevator before stopping at the still open doors. Copycat eventually followed her inside.

  
The trek back to her dorm room was silent save for buzzing fluorescent lights in the hallway of Hope’s Peak Academy. Copycat purposely lost herself in the crowd of students before ducking away down the hall and into her dorm, losing Amaya along the way. Copycat locked her door tightly and threw herself onto her bed. She buried her face in the sheets and pillow. Her time that night was spent restlessly holding her eyes shut as she cried into her herself.

  
The next day began with a dreaded morning announcement. The speaker and screen in Copycat’s room buzzed with discordant static as Monokuma cleared his throat.   
“Good morning, Hope’s Peak Academy!” Monokuma’s grating voice rattled through the small room. “Hurry up and get some grub into you, today you get a brand new motive to grapple with!” His signature laugh stung Copycat’s ears. She turned over in bed, holding the pillow over her head.

  
Copycat dragged herself from bed and turned on the tablet at her bedside. Eight in the morning. Her conversation with Amaya returned to the forefront of her mind as Copycat looked at the class list. Following Miyuki’s directions, Copycat tapped on her own name for more information.

  
The space where Copycat’s real name would have been was instead filled by question marks. Amaya’s guess seemed to be right, though. Copycat’s age and year were listed. A 14 year old freshman attending Hope’s Peak Academy as the Ultimate Copycat. She turned off the screen of the tablet and proceeded to get ready for her day.

  
The hallways were empty when Copycat made her way to the kitchen. She could hear the voices of her classmates clamoring over each other through the open door. Copycat entered the room silently and ate without bothering them.

  
“I’m saying that shit isn’t important right now!” Masuyo slammed a fist on the table. “This is the worst possible time for you to try and ‘lighten our spirits,’ I don’t care what your fucking talent is!”

  
Copycat turned and watched the others silently. She looked a bit further down the counter to see that Rin was standing a short way from her, also observing the spat.

  
“You’re so tense,” Ryuu huffed. “That just proves this is the perfect time for me to put my talent to use! I can convert the gym space, and we can make food to share. A party would be great for boosting comradery! You can’t kill somebody after having a great time with them at an awesome party!”

  
“You’re an idiot and an asshole and I’d kill you right now if it didn’t mean I’d get executed myself!” Masuyo yelled back.

  
Copycat tensed at Ryuu’s words. She considered briefly repeating Masuyo’s words only for fear to well up in her throat instead. She closed her mouth again. Copycat looked down the table to see all the other students either muttering completely unrelated conversation or silent altogether. Tomoko sat with her head down on the table while Kazuki talked to her, but she didn’t reply to any of what he was saying. In response, Shiori butted into their conversation, prompting Kazuki to immediately stop talking.

  
“You kids better hurry the Hell up!” The speakers blared to life suddenly, startling Copycat. “All students of Hope’s Peak Academy report to the gymnasium! Your motive is getting impatient! ” The announcement ended as bluntly as it had started.

  
“Getting impatient?” Rin said as she tapped the eraser end of her pencil against her chin. “How strange.”

  
Copycat wordlessly started to make her way towards the door. Amaya meanwhile seemed to be dragging Masuyo along to the door as well. Masuyo was flipping off the entire room as they walked away. Copycat allowed Amaya to catch up to her in the hallway, her arm looped around Masuyo’s.

  
“Good morning, Copycat,” Amaya greeted. “Did you rest well?”

  
Copycat glanced at Amaya for a moment before catching the eyes of Masuyo. Her watching was returned with a cold silence. Copycat quickly shook her head before speeding off down the hall and towards the gym where Monokuma and the next motive were waiting. 

  
As Copycat turned the corner, a completely empty room met her save for the headmaster and a girl who was facing away from her. She was about the same height as Copycat with her copper red hair in a braid that fell past her waist. She wore a sweater with sleeves too long and baggy pants. Peeking out from under her sweater was a shirt that not only didn’t match the rest of her pink and red outfit but was long enough to be a skirt. It was balled up on one side and held in an elastic band to keep it from falling too far, leaving a portion of her clothes bunched up at her side like a cyan ponytail. 

  
Copycat approached farther into the gym. The strange girl turned when she heard footsteps. Her cheeks were similarly spattered with freckles. Her eyes were wide and blue like her mismatched undershirt. She couldn’t have been more than a sophomore student. 

  
As Copycat stood and studied the confused face of the new student, people began filing in behind her. The new student seemed to stare like a deer in headlights before her puzzled expression immediately shifted into something sinister. What had previously been doleful curiosity was swiftly consumed by wolfish hostility as the stranger lunged towards Copycat, her arms forward and poised to grab at her neck.

  
Copycat’s shriek was undeniably her own, at least until the stranger’s hands closed themselves around her neck and silenced her. The newcomer’s eyes were intense and her grasp immovable. Blunt pain rocked up Copycat’s spine as she and the stranger toppled to the hardwood floor. There was no room for Copycat to recoil, as the hands around her neck only grew tighter.

  
Copycat gasped when the weight of the stranger was suddenly yanked away from her by a much stronger force. The stranger screamed as she was forced away from Copycat, who coughed and wheeze without moving from her place.

  
“Miss Aki, restrain yourself!” Monokuma yelled above the hectic commotion around them. “This is no way to greet your new classmates!”

  
Copycat looked back at the others to see that Hiroshi had pulled the assailant away by her hood, effectively choking her should she make a wrong move.

  
“I’ll fucking kill them!” The strange girl yelled. Hiroshi twisted his fist, strengthening his grip on her. 

  
“You can do that while still playing by the rules,” Monokuma replied as if he was scolding a toddler. “ Don’t tell me they’ve already fallen out your ears again, we just talked about this! ” He bore his claws by the end of his statement.

  
The new student, Aki, continued to writhe in Hiroshi’s grip. “Let me go, you sick-making bitch!” She spat vindictively.

  
“What the Hell is going on?” Tomoko stepped forward to see Copycat still sitting on the floor. She approached the other girl and offered her a hand.   
Copycat paused before shakily taking Tomoko’s hand and standing up again. She immediately ducked behind Tomoko, clinging to her instinctively.

  
“I was just about to tell you before I was rudely interrupted by my guest!” Monokuma huffed, very obviously offended.

  
“I’ll find your maker!” Aki shrieked again. “I’ll skin your spy alive!” 

  
Masuyo responded by reaching over and covering Aki’s mouth with her hand.

  
“Jesus Christ,” Masuyo muttered. “Cool your jets, kid. Do you want to die because I know about fourteen people who can make that happen right now if you don’t shut your fucking mouth!”

  
“Don’t mind her,” Monokuma spoke up again. “ She’s had a rough day. Anyways, let’s hear a warm welcome for your motive! A brand new classmate! Say hello to Aki Igarashi!”

  
Another shout punctuated the air, this time from Masuyo as she yanked her hand away from Aki. “Your motive bit me!” She yowled.

  
“The game is rigged!” Aki interrupted immediately.

  
“Shut up!” Monokuma threw both paws up to direct attention back towards himself. He was red with rage. “The game is not‘rigged,’ and I will not stand for this slander! You, little missy, broke the rules! I’ll say it for you once and it better stay lodged in that stupid skull of yours! Rule breakers don’t win the prize, got it!? So now you’re motive fodder, and you’ve only got yourself to blame!”

  
Aki seemed to go limp at these accusations.

  
“Can I trust you?” Hiroshi asked flatly. There was an agitated twinge to his voice. 

  
“No,” Aki wheezed. “I’m going to win.”

  
“Drop her, tough guy,” Monokuma chuckled. “ You can’t trust anybody in a killing game! I do have my fail-safes, however. For her specifically.”

  
Hiroshi stood and waited until Aki was no longer struggling. She stood completely still with her eyes to the floor, doubled over and breathing heavily. When Hiroshi let go of her hood, Aki fell to her knees on the hardwood.

  
“Have fun dodging your new motive,” Monokuma laughed. “She’s a fast one!” He disappeared just as he finished his announcement, leaving the gymnasium heavy with anguish.  
A long pause followed Monokuma’s disappearance before anybody dared to speak again.

  
“Would you care to elaborate on any of that exchange, Aki?” Rin asked, still writing in her notebook.

  
In swift retaliation, Aki immediately stood up and wordlessly bolted out of the gymnasium.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had so much fun writing this!! I've been so excited to release Aki, and I'm so glad she's finally in the story! As always, thanks a bunch for reading!


	8. Day 3, Afternoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long! This work is still in progress, I haven't abandoned it. Thank you to everybody reading for your patience!

Just as soon as Aki had fled, hurried conversation exploded around the gymnasium.

  
“We’ll all be safe if we keep ourselves away from that Aki gal, yeah?” Ryuu seemed to be fishing for agreement, despite his unsure tone of voice. Not even Hiroshi replied to him. He instead, stood completely stoic with his mouth burning beneath his scarf.   


“I have reason to believe our lives are in danger,” Amaya commented. “If what that short girl has said is true, then those who do not wish to be attacked as Copycat was should keep away from her.”   


“Why do we all have to hide from her?” Yuudai growled. “Majority rules, doesn’t it?! She should be afraid of us! Not the other way around! ”   


Rin scribbled something in her notebook before replying. “That isn’t what ‘majority rules’ means, Yuudai.”   


“You know what I meant!” Yuudai snapped back. “You heard her! She’s gonna hunt us down one by one if we let her! ”   


Masuyo rolled her eyes at this before promptly returning to stand by Amaya, who looked only slightly more invested in the situation at hand as she was tending to Copycat.   


“Tomoko?” Kazuki’s anxious voice was nearest to her. “You look pale.” His expression was gently concerned.   


Tomoko swallowed before choking out a reply. “I’m fine. We need to find Aki. ”   


“What a tale!” Shiori jumped. “Missing students, killers on the loose, like right from a novel!”   


“Students?” Ryuu adjusted his novelty sunglasses. “I thought only Aki was missing.”   


Shiori skipped towards Kazuki, who had no move to escape from her before she grabbed his arm. “Kazuki, you are clever,” She exclaimed. “Have you any idea of where the upside down boy has gone? He wears a bandanna upon-”   


“How long did you know that Noburu was missing?” Yuudai interrupted aggressively.   


“You were unaware?” Shiori didn’t even flinch.   


Tomoko immediately started making her way to the doors. “He’ll be hanging from the rafters somewhere,” she said wearily. Tomoko took a breath before her next statement. “Let’s find him before Aki does!”   


Kazuki meekly followed after her, pulling himself away from a thoroughly disappointed Shiori. He was followed by Yuudai.   


“We can’t be trusting anybody to look for him alone!” Yuudai declared. “At least three people should be in groups together, so nobody runs the risk of being killed!”   


“I will stay here with Copycat,” Amaya commented. “Somebody should ensure she is unharmed.”   


“Keep somebody with you!” Yuudai snarled.   


“Step off, skeleton face,” Masuyo moved in front of Amaya. Despite the above average height of the others, Masuyo still stood taller than both of them. “I’ll make sure they do.”   


Momentary silence followed this declaration before Yuudai turned to face Takuma.   


“Hey! Conductor! ” Yuudai called him. “ Keep an eye on them. ”   


“Do you not trust me?” Amaya’s profound indifference faded into an offended look.   


Yuudai shook his head before glaring fiercely at Masuyo for a short moment.   


Tomoko cleared her throat in an attempt to regain Yuudai’s attention. “We were goingtogo, did you want to come with us?”   


“Fine!” Yuudai answered for them. “We’ll keep each other in check, got it?!”   


Yuudai pushed past the group, grabbing Tomoko by the arm and hauling her out of the gymnasium.   


“Ow..!” Tomoko hissed as the two made their way down the hall with Kazuki following closely behind them. She wrenched her arm out of Yuudai’s grip, and they continued on their way. Tomoko made a point of standing closer to Kazuki than to Yuudai.   


“There are rafters in the kitchen,” Kazuki stammered. “Do you think Noburu will be there?”   


Yuudai huffed in response. “That’s on the entire other side of the school! We’ll have to haul ass to get there! ”   


“I’m kind of worried,” Kazuki admitted. “Didn’t you hear what Monokuma said? About fail-safes for Aki? ”   


“What did he even mean by that?” Yuudai grumbled as the group made their way through the halls. Above them, fluorescent lights lit up the empty school.   


“What if he meant traps?” Kazuki faltered. “What if we set one off? Would they be deadly? ”   


“I thought he wanted students killing each other,” Tomoko interrupted. “Why would the traps be deadly?”   


“Hiroto was killed by a falling shelf!” Kazuki retorted grimly.   


“Then be careful not to throw your weight around and you won’t crush anybody!” Yuudai interrupted them both as the group came to the door leading into the kitchen.   


Tomoko pushed the door open before Yuudai shoved ahead of her, leading the way into the kitchen. Tomoko huffed before taking her place beside a shivering Kazuki who was growing paler by the second.   


“Noburu?” Tomoko called towards the rafters. She didn’t see anybody. “Are you here?”   


“Yeah, right here.”   


Tomoko jumped as his voice came from right behind her. She whirled around to see Noburu standing at the door they’d all come in through. Tomoko let out a breath.   


“Where were you?” She asked.   


“I was at the presentation with the rest of you,” Noburu answered in a laid-back tone. “I just snuck out for a quick bite to eat.”   


“How the Hell did you manage that?” Yuudai asked.   


In response, Noburu only shrugged. "Nobody noticed me leave."   


“What about the traps?” Kazuki shivered. “Did you see any?”   


“What traps?” Noburu glanced curiously between the three of them. “By the way, you aren’t looking so good, doc. Maybe you ought to not be on the front lines of this kind of thing. ”   


Kazuki swallowed but didn’t say anything to defend himself.   


“You’re coming with us,” Yuudai piped up again as he led the others back into the hallway. “ Do you want to meet the others in the gym or are you goingtohunt for Aki with us? ”   


“Dude, I’ve gotta see how this plays out,” Noburu chuckled. “ No way am I going to sit and do nothing in the gym while you guys have all the fun. ”   


It was at this time that a loud crash was heard from down the hall, followed by the unmistakable sound of Masuyo yelling obscenities. Once again, she was yelling at an indignant Ryuu who was still going on about his party plans.   


“Come on,” Tomoko urged. “We need to meet with the others before somebody else ends up dead.” She was pushed aside by Yuudai, who once again led the way to confronting the others.   


Ryuu and Hiroshi were side by side, as they’d taken to being. Masuyo meanwhile was following the two of them. She yelled at Ryuu specifically, as Hiroshi seemed not to be paying attention to her.   


“Why did you all leave the gym?” Yuudai called ahead before the two groups met.   


“We’ve gotta gather stuff for my party!” Ryuu said, firing finger guns. Hiroshi said nothing.   


“I only came to convince them it’s a stupid idea!” Masuyo shouted. “Do you have any fucking idea what’s going on around you?! People are dead! Hiroto is dead! Sumiko is dead! We saw their bodies! ”   


“It’s a morale booster!” Ryuu defended. “It isn’t like I’m celebrating the fact that they’re dead!”   


“I don’t give a shit! We don’t need it right now! ”   


“Masuyo, let them set it up,” Yuudai groaned. “They aren’t hurting anyone.”   


Masuyo immediately shifted her attention to Yuudai with a disgusted expression. “Who died and made you king?” She asked sarcastically. “Oh right; Hiroto did. Do you want to fucking live or not?! Need I remind you what happens when somebody dies? We all get put on the line! I for one don’t want to fucking die! ” Masuyo stalked closer to Yuudai and grabbed the collar of his shirt before slamming his back to the wall.   


Tomoko immediately took a step forward before she was grabbed by Kazuki, who held her back by the arm. She attempted halfheartedly to escape, but in the end settled for glaring daggers at Masuyo.   


"If you put my life in danger, I will dedicate the rest of it to crushing you like the fucking roach you are." Masuyo growled as she leaned close to Yuudai. She forced him to meet her eyes.   


Yuudai strugged against her grip. He clenched his jaw but said nothing. The two of them were completely still for a moment before Masuyo dropped Yuudai. He stumbled and steadied himself against the wall behind him.   


Before Tomoko could interrupt, Kazuki jumped in. He gasped and pointed down the hall where nobody else was looking.   


“I found her!” Kazuki yelled. Aki stood in the center of the hallway like a deer in the headlights before she was tackled to the ground by Ryuu. Both of them were screaming.   
The rest of the group instantly ceased their fighting to stare onward as Ryuu managed to drag Aki back towards them.   


“What do I win?!” He called triumphantly.   
  
  
  
  
  
  



	9. Day 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Ryuu's party fast approaching, tension flares between the students of Hope's Peak.

“We can’t trust Masuyo,” Tomoko insisted under her breath. “She’s destructive and frantic, and we need to keep an eye on her.”

“I know she is,” Yuudai replied in an equally hushed tone. He held the subject of their conversation in his peripheral. 

Tomoko glanced across the table to see Masuyo and Amaya eating their breakfast. They sat side by side, Amaya doing most of the talking. Next to her was a thoroughly zoned-out Copycat. None of them were paying attention to Tomoko and Yuudai. In fact, Masuyo was mostly paying attention to the smiling and chattering Amaya.

“Listen, you can help keep an eye on Masuyo yourself if you’re so worried,” Yuudai said. “I can’t be everywhere at once and besides, she's already being watched. Amaya doesn’t seem to be the violent type.”

“You don’t know that,” Tomoko defended. “Hell, you really shouldn’t be trusting anybody!”

“I didn’t say I trusted Amaya, I said she doesn’t seem violent.” Yuudai grumbled. He returned to eating his breakfast. Tomoko huffed and gave up on continuing the conversation.

Kazuki had been looking away through the conversation. Instead of Tomoko, he’d been listening to Rin. She was sharing the observations written down on her notepad. They were pouring over it like it was their job to analyse the findings.

“...By technicality, it’s an informal case study,” Rin said as she overlooked her notes.

“Case studies have their place. It isn’t like there’s a way for you to be uninvolved,” Kazuki’s usual anxious demeanor had seemed to fade a bit as he was instead focused on their discussion. He still stumbled over his words on occasion, but there was far less guess work to his input.

“Ryuu said his party is happening tomorrow,” Rin continued thoughtfully. “That will be a prime opportunity to observe the effects of this scenario.”

“You mean the killing game?” Tomoko interrupted. “I don’t think that’s the best way to be talking about it. As a study."

Rin turned to her without a change in her blank expression. Kazuki glanced at Tomoko warily, as if asking for something she couldn’t understand.

“I am simply archiving our time here,” Rin replied officially. “It is my way, after all.”

“Treating all of this as a study is ‘your way?’” Tomoko repeated snidely. Kazuki fidgeted slightly as the tension between them seemed to grow.

“Tomoko, she’s a sociologist, it’s just how researchers organize their thoughts,” Kazuki interjected awkwardly. 

“So you’re okay with having her watch us like subjects and write down everything we do while our classmates die around us?” Tomoko was becoming agitated as the exchange continued. “That doesn’t strike you as weird or creepy? Not even a little bit?”

Kazuki immediately shut up. He glanced at Rin momentarily as her expression seemed to soften, though for only a split second.

“It is just my way,” Rin repeated. “Do you wish to be excluded from my study?”

“I don’t care what you do,” Tomoko’s tone of voice softened to match Rin’s. “What’s the point of recording it at all? You aren’t going to be able to publish any of it unless you win the killing game.” As she went on, Tomoko couldn’t help but lace her words with accusatory venom.

“It is my way,” Rin repeated defensively. “I do not publish all of my observations. I require organization,” She pulled her notepad and pen closer to herself and away from Kazuki. He glanced between the two girls anxiously.

“Do whatever you want,” Tomoko huffed. “As long as you aren’t trying to win.”

“I’ll publish it for her,” Kazuki butted in. “If I make it-” he quickly added as he realized the implications of his statement far too late to retract it. 

Tomoko stared at him for a moment. 

“No, do not,” Rin said. “These notes are not for publishing. They are for my own research. Understood?”

Across the table from them, Miyuki turned the page of her book without paying much mind to her surroundings. Tomoko considered what her stance would be for a moment, but was unable to read her blank expression. Her thick glasses obscured her eyes and Tomoko found herself deciding to save decoding Miyuki’s mannerisms for when she wasn’t so exasperated.

“Hey, Miyuki,” Noburu was right beside her, looking over her shoulder at the book she was reading. “Have you eaten yet?”

No response, but Miyuki turned the page. Noburu paused for a moment before placing his hand between the open halves of her novel.

“Miyuki, you should eat something,” He repeated. 

Miyuki looked up at him blankly. Despite her turning to face him, Miyuki’s uneven hair still hid her eyes from Tomoko’s view. 

“Why?” Miyuki asked. 

Noburu was taken aback by this but not dramatically so. He sighed slightly. “Just do it,” Noburu retracted his hand but Miyuki still looked at him. “Breakfast is good for you.”

“Should we really be considering our health when the circumstances are so bleak?” Miyuki lowered her book, looking down sadly as she asked this.

“Aw c’mon, you’re bumming me out,” Noburu chuckled awkwardly. Despite his laugh, there was a crease of concern on his brow. “I’d argue that now is the best time for us to be worried about our health. Since we’re gonna be solving all those cases! Can’t think clearly on an empty stomach, can you?” He slid his plate a bit closer to Miyuki. “Have my muffin. I haven’t touched it yet, promise!”

Miyuki stared at the offered food for a short time before setting down her book and taking it. 

“Thank you,” she said, staring at the muffin before starting to eat.

Tomoko stood up from the table and started clearing away her plate. She dropped it off at the sink and started cleaning it. It was as she was washing her hands that Ryuu bounded towards her.

“Tomoko!” He called, bouncing on his heels. “Will you help us set up decorations for the party?”

“Decorations?” Tomoko questioned. “You don’t think that isn’t a bit, you know, insensitive?”

“We aren’t celebrating people dying!” Ryuu insisted. “We can’t have a party that’ll raise people’s spirits without decorations and aren’t you a carpenter or something?”

“I mean- yes, but I don’t know-”

“You can help us! I’d trust you more with a hammer than I’d trust anyone else.”

“What about Hiroshi?”

“Hiroshi is muscular like you wouldn’t believe, but it makes him way too heavy to be using the ladder we found!” Ryuu explained. His upbeat tone was unending and excited.

“Fine, fine, I get it,” Tomoko sighed reluctantly. “I’ll give you a hand, just don’t make a big deal about it, okay?”  
Ryuu giggled mischievously. “I can try!”

Ryuu practically dragged Tomoko out of the kitchen and down the hallway. When they reached the gymnasium, Tomoko realized exactly why she was needed instead of Hiroshi. 

The ladder being used to hang decorations was stout and rusted. It looked as though it had been left unused in a closet for years. The streamers being held up were actually not streamers at all, but strips of faded construction paper that Ryuu had stapled together end to end. They were laid out on a folding table.

“I sent Hiroshi out to look for balloons, but since we couldn’t find real streamers, we might just have to make do.” Ryuu stepped into the gym and looked around as if he was a realtor showing off a home. He proudly placed his hands on his hips before he turned to face Tomoko again. “We just need some help actually setting things up!”

“Right,” Tomoko eyed the ladder warily before picking up a hammer and nails from the table. 

“Thanks a bunch, Tomoko!” Ryuu clapped once. “This’ll be a great party, just you see! There will be food and drinks and-”

“Now you just hold on a minute!” Monokuma’s harsh voice startled Tomoko. She wobbled before managing to steady herself against the wall. She let out a relieved sigh, despite her pounding blood. “Who gave you permission to throw this party?!” Monokuma demanded.

“I did,” Ryuu crossed his arms with a smirk. “It’s going to be great!”

“Do you realize how expensive it is to rent a space like this!?” Monokuma growled.

“I’m more concerned about the drinks thing,” Tomoko interrupted.

“I found them in the kitchen cupboard!”

“Ryuu, I don’t think that’s a good idea-”

“Both of you shut up and listen while your headmaster is talking!”

Tomoko immediately snapped back to attention while Ryuu rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses. Tomoko elbowed him in the rib and gave him a sharp stare. Ryuu stuck his tongue out defiantly.

“Now see here! I don’t give two shits if you want to throw a party but you need to ask my first! I’m the authority; I make the rules!”

“So can we throw a party?” Ryuu asked hopefully.

“Of course you can throw a party!” Monokuma cackled. 

Ryuu pumped his fists in the air excitedly.

“Just clean up after yourselves, cadavers and all!” With these rules laid in place, Monokuma disappeared.


	10. Day 5, The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning for underage drinking.

The gymnasium was dark, save for the lights that had been set up for Ryuu’s party. The space lacked many things a traditional high school celebration would have, though they made do with what they could find. The music found in the AV room was all pirated and burned onto CDs. None of it was recent, but it could still be played over the PA system. This, however, meant that Monokuma had to be the DJ as he refused any students access to his office.

Hiroshi had managed to find balloons but no helium. They had to be inflated by Tomoko and now miserably lazed around on the floor. Nobody was dancing, but several people had taken to drinking instead.

“I do not appreciate the setup of the lights.” Rin commented flatly as she sat at the bar Tomoko had helped set up. Tomoko sat beside her, and Kazuki stood leaning behind the bar. Rin was staring down into her glass as she swirled around the liquid inside it.

“Thanks, I worked hard on them,” Tomoko returned as she leaned back in her seat. She faced away from the bar to keep a closer eye on the party itself. 

“It is not an insult to you,” Rin responded flatly. “It is giving me a terrible headache.”

“Stop drinking, then.”

A profound silence passed as Rin shifted her eyes to stare at Tomoko, who didn’t return the contact. Rin took another swift drink in response, emptying her glass. Kazuki shifted slightly where he stood but looked at neither of them.

Tomoko ignored this and continued to watch over the students in the gymnasium. While not everybody was here, she and Yuudai were on watch. He took the hallways outside the party, and Tomoko took the inside. In the gym was Amaya, who was right by Masuyo. Copycat wasn’t far away from the two. She sat still for awhile as Amaya attempted to engage with her before opting to wander away. Ryuu was similarly monitoring his party, but was separated from Hiroshi for the first time Tomoko could remember. Takuma miserably stood in the corner, lamenting the choices in music to a thoroughly bored out of her mind Shiori.

Ryuu had insisted Kazuki be trusted with the alcohol, using the logic that a chemist would be the most reliable person to handle drinks. Tomoko looked down at her own cup and took another sip and held back a gag. Every sip was watered down and barely burned at her throat. Then again, she couldn’t complain about Kazuki not serving straight shots to a group of teenagers stuck in a murder. Umeko, in retaliation it seemed, had been drinking up a storm. She would appear and disappear at random intervals to fetch a glass of watered down alcohol and then leave until it was empty. Tomoko absently wondered if she’d had more to drink than Rin.

Just under half the class hadn’t shown up for the party. It was Tomoko’s job to keep her eyes on the gymnasium while Yuudai and Noburu monitored the outside corridors. Through the night Tomoko had been sipping from the same glass for what had to have been hours at this point. She attempted to force her mind to be held in one room rather than be focused on the self-admitted killer Aki prowling the halls with Noburu close behind her. It made sense, in Tomoko’s mind, for the Ultimate Hide and Seek to be keeping an eye on someone who came off as volatile as Aki did. This didn’t ease her anxiety. That's where the watered-down alcohol came in handy. It made her worries slippery, and they fell off her mind with each drawn out sip.

As the night had droned on, Tomoko’s anxiety had grown dull and impersonal. She kept her mind contained within the bleak walls of the gymnasium and monitored the party. People would talk, sit, drink, leave, repeat. In a way, Ryuu could almost have been right about the party helping for morale. At least in the sense that bad booze made the concept of a life on the line a lot less palpable than it was when Tomoko was sober.

While Tomoko scanned over the goings-on of the party, the effects of this seemed to be manifesting in other ways. Rin’s headache, Takuma’s seeming reluctance to move from one place anymore, and eventually Shiori approaching the bar again to talk up a thoroughly intimidated Kazuki. As Shiori walked by Tomoko’s line of sight, her attention was dragged back across the room to a lip locked Masuyo and Amaya.

The gym door bursting open elicited a groan of agony from Rin, who was slung over the bar with Kazuki at her side. Umeko, who had disappeared not long ago, came barreling back into the gymnasium shrieking like she’d seen the reaper. Behind her, Aki brandished a knife that glinted in the harsh light.

“Son of a bitch!” Aki spat before she immediately bolted down the hallway and out of sight.

“She’s trying to corner people!” Umeko yelled hoarsely over the music.

Tomoko immediately stood up and pursued Aki out of the gymnasium, leaving behind the burning sight of Rin doubled over shaking and Amaya pulling tight on Masuyo’s tie. She stumbled outside the gym and into the brightly lit hallway. Tomoko blinked at the sudden change in lighting before she glanced left just in time to see Aki disappear around the corner. Tomoko promptly followed her, narrowing all her confusion into aggression at the threat of another murder taking place. 

Aki was significantly smaller than Tomoko, and younger too. She lacked the same muscle and was generally shorter, but she was still fast. Tomoko was just sober enough to consider this as she chased Aki through the school. Every so often, Aki would check if Tomoko was still chasing and gain another burst of speed. Tomoko refused to be outrun. Every party of her was dead set on wrestling that knife out of Aki’s hand.

Aki made her way halfway across the school before taking a stark turn just beyond the lobby. She led Tomoko away from the kitchen and towards a part of the school that she had yet to explore. They rush past locked rooms and signs marking the place of a chemistry lab with it's door hanging open. 

Aki continued through the hall before making a hard right into the theatre, shoving the doors open with the full force of her body. Tomoko stumbled into the pitch black room behind her only to freeze near the doors as Aki disappeared. Tomoko cursed under her breath before fumbling along the wall for a light switch. As she felt around, she found several and flipped them all.

Tomoko flinched as the theatre was flooded with sudden blinding light. She shielded her eyes with one hand before looking up again to see Aki frozen in the center aisle, looking up towards the harsh lights. A shadow was casted down on her. Tomoko looked where Aki was focused to see that hanging before one of the center spotlights was the motionless body of Copycat. 

Tomoko’s agonized scream was caught in her throat as Yuudai quickly entered the theatre, nearly crashing into her. He opened his mouth to yell at Aki and Tomoko before noticing the body. She hung from the catwalk meant to be used to manipulate the stage lights. The speakers, stationed on the walls on either side of the stage, blared to life.

“A body has been discovered!” Monokuma’s voice rang through the room. “The party’s over! Report to the theatre to begin your investigation!”

  
  



	11. Investigation 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finding Copycat's body hanging in the theatre, Tomoko and the rest of the students begin their second investigation.

“Let’s count heads,” Yuudai called over the group who had eventually congregated in the theater. Students chattered urgently between themselves as he arduously tried to herd them together.

  
“Oh, oh, Copycat,” Amaya desperately repeated the name of the deceased to herself under her breath like a prayer. “I’m so sorry, dear.” Next to her, Masuyo stared up at the open eyes of the body hanging above them.

  
“Don’t worry about it,” Masuyo said with a grimac e. “I’m sure she forgives you.”

  
“ Masuyo , don’t talk down to me,” Amaya looked up with  tears in her  eyes . A heavy silence passed between them.

  
“Okay.”

  
Shiori looked around the room, taking her own count as Yuudai took his. As she added up her schoolmates on her fingers, she frowned.

  
“Has anybody seen Kazuki?” Shiori asked.

  
“He was in the gym with Rin,” Tomoko recalled. “They should’ve been here with you.”

  
“To Hell with them,” Umeko commented dismissively, though still with a smile. “Being late really messes with the investigation effort.”

  
Ryuu was completely silent. He stood by Hiroshi, who was quiet as well. On occasion, Hiroshi would mutter something to Ryuu, who would hiccup as he stared at the floor. Ryuu never looked up to the catwalk. The two of them sat in the audience rows and Ryuu stared down, speaking to nobody.

  
“Is he okay?” Tomoko asked. Hiroshi looked to her and shook his head subtly. His eyes were gentle and dull. Ryuu sighed, and Hiroshi offered him a pat on the shoulder. Ryuu pushed his arm away and stood up. He walked to the doors of the theatre before stopping. Rather than leave, Ryuu sat down with his back to the wall and rested his head on his arms. His usually comical looking novelty glasses were pushed away from his eyes and rested on top of his head.

  
Tomoko opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Hiroshi standing up to follow the broken-hearted Ryuu. He sat next to him silently and watched the rest of the students as Ryuu quietly sobbed into the sleeves of his sweater.

\---  
  
“Rin, Rin, calm down,” Kazuki repeated as he attempted to stop her from following the orders of the intercom.

  
“Shut up, Kazuki,” Rin hissed as she staggered before falling towards and leaning against the wall. “You are too loud.”

  
“Rin, how much did you have?”

  
“I hardly drank a thing,” Rin replied as she grasped at her ears.

  
“What are you doing? Hold still, let me see your eyes. ”

  
“There is nothing wrong with my eyes,” Rin insisted as Kazuki pulled one of her hands away from her face. He stared at her for a moment, despite her insistence. “Give me my hand back.”

  
Kazuki let go at Rin’s request. She immediately returned to fidgeting with her ears.

  
“Are you hurt?” Kazuki asked.

  
“I am not hurt, I have been sitting completely still for hours,” Rin responded with a huff.

  
“Why are you grabbing your head? Was the party too loud? ” Kazuki lowered his voice with the second question.

  
“My ears are ringing, Kazuki. I have a pounding headache. My head is light and my stomach hurts terribly. ”

  
Kazuki’s concern deepened at this. The softness in his expression faded into urgency.

  
“Rin, what-”

  
Kazuki was interrupted as Shiori pounced on him from behind. She giggled and surrounded him in a hug. He jolted and gasped at the sudden embrace, wheezing as he was sharply dragged back from Rin. Shiori squealed as she hugged him.

  
“We were worried about you, Kazzie!” The dollish girl exclaimed in a saccharine tone. As she said this, she glanced briefly from Kazuki to Rin. The stare she held with the sociologist was icily one-sided.

  
“Shiori, let me go,” Kazuki stammered. “Please, this is really important!”

  
“Whatever could be more important than the current investigation?” Shiori questioned pleadingly. “I was fretting over your whereabouts, you know!”

  
“I was with Rin; I’m fine,” Kazuki insisted.

  
“Kazuki, there you are!” Tomoko came into the gym behind Shiori. “Why are you two lagging behind?”

  
“Rin is sick,” Kazuki replied warily. “I’m just worried about her.”

  
“Can it wait?” Tomoko asked. “We were all just drinking, I’m not surprised if she feels sick.” Kazuki opted to ignore this observation and instead continued speaking to Rin.

  
“Did you take something?”

  
A silence followed this question as Rin glanced away. Kazuki focused his attention on her rather than the two other girls staring at them. Shiori rocked impatiently while Tomoko looked on in petrified confusion.

  
Rin ultimately let out a short breath before speaking again. “There’s a medicine cabinet. First-aid station in the chemistry lab. Inside that medicine cabinet are pain killers. I discovered them during the investigation of Hiroto’s death, but they were never of any importance, so I kept their existence to myself. ”

  
“You took them?” Kazuki asked gently.

  
“I took them,” Rin confirmed.

  
“How many?”

  
In response to this, Rin just shrugged. “I have been taking them since I found them.”

  
At this, Kazuki turned and faced Tomoko. “It can’t wait,” he said. “I’m taking Rin with me, and we’re getting her treated.”

  
“You can do that?” Shiori interrupted. “Oh, you truly are wonderful!”

  
“Shiori, this isn’t the time,” Kazuki’s voice was becoming more urgent as he helped Rin stand. She propped herself up using one arm wrapped over his shoulder and bracing the other off the bar table. “You two go back to investigating with the others, please. I need to help her right now. ”

  
Tomoko blinked before nodding. “Okay, I’ll tell the others. Be safe. ”

  
“Killers need to follow rules, remember?” Kazuki said as he held onto Rin, careful not to hurt her. “One trial at a time.”

  
“Right, one trial at a time,” Tomoko repeated.

  
As Kazuki led her away, Rin groaned in pain but stayed mostly silent. She still gripped her head with her free hand.

  
“Let’s go, ” Tomoko called back to Shiori as she turned to leave. Shiori followed Tomoko down the hallway but kept her eyes on Kazuki as he led Rin elsewhere. “Kazuki knows what he’s doing,” Tomoko offered.

  
“It is not that,” Shiori replied. She then rushed ahead and back into the theatre where Copycat’s body still hung.

  
“We ought to get her down from there, eh?” Noburu’s voice came from just out of Tomoko’s line of sight, making her jump. He didn’t react. “She’s hung up from the catwalk, so there’s definitely a way up there.”

  
“I think she jumped all by herself,” Umeko commented slyly. Noburu responded by swiftly smacking her in the back of the head.

  
“Don’t be a lil’ shit while we’re investigating murder,” he said. “I’m gonna look for some kind of path.”

  
“Aw, c’mon!” Umeko whined. “When did you become a buzzkill?!”

  
“We’ll have time for fucking around later,” Noburu reasoned as he climbed on stage. “Investigation now, shenanigans later, alright? If this whole event taught us anything, it would be that. ”

  
Umeko blew a raspberry in response but let him go. Tomoko watched as Noburu disappeared backstage.

  
“There’s likely some sort of stairwell that will lead from off stage to the walkway,” Miyuki interrupted. She opted to follow and take the stairs that Noburu had neglected to use. She stood on stage watching him.

  
“I don’t have the time to find stairwells,” Noburu called back. “ Look at all these ropes! ”

  
“Noburu, don’t be reckless!” Miyuki followed him backstage and the two disappeared.

  
Before Tomoko could follow after them, Yuudai was calling her name. She turned to see him on his knees just below Copycat’s body.

  
“You went after Kazuki, didn’t you?” Yuudai grumbled.

  
“He’s with Rin. She isn’t feeling well. ”

  
“Well I need his advice,” Yuudai stood up again.

  
“What did you find?” Tomoko asked as she approached the shadow on the walkway. As Tomoko looked at it, she realized that it wasn’t actually a shadow at all. Copycat’s body was lit up by a stagelight that projected her farther away. The carpet on the walkway was stained.

  
“I don’t know,” Yuudai answered. “But my best guess is that it’s bile. Nothing solid to it at all. ”

  
Tomoko gagged. “Copycat was sick before she died?”

  
Yuudai looked up in response. He squinted and shielded his eyes from the glaring lights. “Sick and on an empty stomach. There’s nothing in it. ”

  
“How can you tell?”

  
Yuudai shrugged. “I’m a rockstar. I’ve seen plenty of people getting sick in my lifetime. ”

  
“Right, right.” Tomoko trailed off as she stood up again.

  
“You were monitoring the party, was Copycat drinking?”

  
“Not a glass,” Tomoko replied. “Didn’t even really approach the bar.”

  
“Poor kid,” Yuudai let out a breath. “ But that’s important to know. Look at this,” he retrieved his Monopad and turned it on before pulling up the report of Copycat’s death. “The cause of death is blank.”

  
“So? I figured it would be obvious that itwas suffocation. ”

  
“That’s what I think, too. Copycat must’ve been sick before she was hanged. ”

  
“We don’t know that. It could’ve been the killer. ” Tomoko reasoned.

  
“Do you think the killer was drunk?”

  
Tomoko shrugged before replying. “Maybe. Plenty of people were drinking, and our suspect might be somebody who was. ”

  
“That’s important, remember it for me,” Yuudai nodded. There was a subtle glint in his eye.

  
“Heads!” Noburu called from the catwalk. Tomoko looked up in time to see a small object falling from above and scramble out of the way. The container hit the ground, uncapping and spilling red pills across the carpeted floor. “That looked like evidence!” Noburu called again. Tomoko looked up to see him waving to them from the catwalk.   
“Is there anything else?” Yuudai yelled back.

  
“Nope, the walkway is full of tiny holes. Anything else would’ve fallen through! ”

  
“I want to see this for myself,” Yuudai said as he made his way onto the stage. “How the Hell did you get up there?” She called as he looked around for a path to take.

  
“I climbed the ropes!” Noburu replied. “It’s all about the upper body strength, see?”

  
Tomoko picked up the container and looked at the label. There was no brand name, but the name of the medicine itself was too difficult to pronounce. As Tomoko was staring at it, the speakers in the room crackled and buzzed awake.

  
“Attention Hope’s Peak Academy! It’s time for your second trial! Report to the main lobby immediately. Stragglers will be executed, so don’t be late! ” Monokuma giggled before ending his announcement. Tomoko quickly shoved the half empty medicine container into her pocket and made her way to the lobby with the others.

  
Noburu slid back to ground level using the same ropes he’d climbed before and came along with the others. Yuudai made certain to be the last person out of the theatre, despite Umeko’s best efforts. As they each made their way down the hall and into the main lobby of the school, Tomoko caught up with Kazuki and Rin.

  
“Feeling any better, Rin?” She asked. Rin only stared at her for a short moment in response before making her way into the elevator leading to the trial room. As Rin passed by, Tomoko caught Shiori glancing towards the two of them. She hastily looked away and latched onto a startled Kazuki instead.

  
“Take a look at this,” Tomoko said as she dug the medicine out of her pocket. Kazuki held out his free hand to take it from her. “Familiar? It was left on the catwalk Copycat was hanging from. ”

  
Kazuki seemed to grow even more pale as he read the label on the container. He glanced from the medicine to the elevator and back again.   
“That doesn’t make any sense at all.”


	12. Trial 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tomoko and classmates have to uncover the truth behind Copycat's death. Some insist her death was suicide, but is that really the case? People are growing suspicious of Rin's involvement and it's up to Kazuki to prove or disprove her innocence.

The trial began with the booming echo of Monokuma’s gavel on his podium. Tomoko was immediately snapped from her focus by Umeko making her first statement. Her voice interrupted Tomoko's focus on the brand new portrait that was now taking up the empty space at Copycat's podium. The portrait of a girl slumped forward with blue lips, and brown hair hiding her eyes. 

“I don’t even see a reason for us to be at this stupid trial,” Umeko huffed. She crossed her arms and leaned forward on her podium. Umeko's agitated expression was only accentuated by the ever deepening bags that pooled under her dark eyes. “It’s obvious that Copycat hung herself. You all remember how she was found!”

“That’s where I’m confused,” Yuudai contested. He furrowed his brow and tapped his chin as he spoke. “The Monokuma report never listed her cause of death.”

“Why should it?” Umeko asked. “If Monokuma just admitted in the first place that Copycat decided to do away with herself then there would be no reason for a trial.”

“The headmaster bear would wish to conceal this!” Shiori piped in. “He adores seeing us in turmoil!”

“We can’t be done so quickly,” Hiroshi muttered. The chatter around him continued as if he’d said nothing at all until Ryuu spoke up in his place. 

“Listen!” He called. “Hiroshi is right, we can’t be so sure!”

“Oh, stick your head in an outlet you prick. You’re the one who threw the fucking party that got us into this mess.” Masuyo growled. She clenched the sides of her podium and leaned over it to stare Ryuu down.

“I doubt Copycat would do such a thing,” Amaya interrupted curiously. "Ending her own life."

“Why?” Umeko asked. “It’s in her name. ‘Copycat.’ Maybe she got so upset after Sumiko bit the bullet that when nobody paid attention to her at the party she decided she was better off dead.” Umeko’s statement ended in a way that was mocking. Amaya visibly sank away from the others in response.

“Is anybody going to say something important or are we all resolved to just fucking dying in here?!” Masuyo bellowed suddenly.

“We should start from the beginning,” Takuma suggested coolly. “Let’s say, for the sake of our trial, that Copycat’s coda truly was a murder. How would one orchestrate such a thing?”

“We should set some kind of timeline,” Hiroshi contemplated. Ryuu helped him in raising his voice once again.

“Let’s get a timeline going!” He yelled. “What was Copycat up to? She was at the party for a while, right? How’d she end up in the theatre?”

“I saw Copycat wander away from the gym,” Tomoko spoke up. “Yuudai had put me in place to keep an eye on everybody at the party while he was patrolling the halls-”

“Keeping his eyes out for little old me!” Aki bellowed with a broken laugh. “Making sure I didn’t get my bloody hands on anybody who just so happened to be alone and vulnerable. Not that I don’t have the know how to force a blade to your gullet in broad daylight, too!”

Tomoko ignored Aki and continued her explanation.

“I was sitting with Rin and Kazuki and watching the party. I remember that Copycat was near Masuyo and Amaya for a bit, but she snuck off while they weren’t paying attention. I didn’t take much notice because Umeko had been wandering in and out of the party whenever her glass ran empty. I’m not sure how long Copycat was out of the party when Aki and Umeko burst in. We all chased Aki down the hall and into the theatre, and when we showed up Copycat was dead.”

“A total accident on my part!” Aki interrupted again. “I thought if I climbed onto the catwalk, I’d be safe! You’re all fast runners, but the important thing is that I’m faster.”

“Save your murder fantasies,” Rin groaned. “Your voice grates on my mind like sharpened steel.”

“How’d Aki know about the ropes leading to the catwalk?” Ryuu asked. He lifted his shutter shade glasses as he asked this.

“Because I’m better than you, dipshit. Does it matter?!”

“The extent of what Aki knows about the killing game isn’t relevant to your trial,” Monokuma yawned. “If she knew too much, I would’ve just gotten rid of her!”

“So much for my finding secret paths around the school,” Noburu sighed as he slumped with disappointment.

“Let’s stay on topic,” Miyuki said as she adjusted her obscure glasses. “We’ll change that question, Ryuu. In order for this to have been a suicide, Copycat would have needed to know how to reach the catwalk. If this was a murderer, her pursuer would have as well. My assumption is that there’s a hidden stairwell just outside of the theatre that we passed without noticing.”

“Ding ding ding!” Aki piped up. “I’ve got the whole layout of this run down shitheap locked in my brain. There are actually two stairwells! One on each end of the hallway where the theatre entrance is!”

“I’m gonna need a whole fucking list of reasons before I start taking in a single word you’re saying,” Masuyo sneered.

“Do you wanna die, business lady? C’mon, let’s put our differences aside. You’re the Ultimate Villain, right? We’re both bad people. Blood on our hands and all. Let’s just set all that aside and get out of this trial alive. From killer to killer. Don’t you wanna live another day?” Aki’s voice had dropped somewhat in volume to one that was gratingly saccharin. She fidgeted with her bangs as if to give the illusion of an innocent school girl. “Don’t you wanna kill again?”

“Fuck. You.” Masuyo spat.

“This isn’t getting us anywhere,” Yuudai interjected. “Fight after the trial. In the meantime; Kazuki, I have a question for you.” 

Kazuki jumped slightly when his name was announced. “You did?” He stammered.

“Calm down, it isn’t an accusation. Tomoko and I found a container of medicine at the crime scene, and evidence that Copycat was sick before she died. Do you recognize the pills?"

Kazuki nodded warily. “They’re painkillers.”

Rin lifted her head at this. “Painkillers? Like what I found in the chemistry lab?”

“More than alike, it’s the same medicine.”

“Wait one moment, pause for me please,” Shiori interrupted. “There are two bottles of painkillers? One of which was found at the crime scene, and the other was found where?”

“In my pocket,” Rin replied flatly. “I took them from the chemistry laboratory during our first investigation.”

“This kind of throws a wrench into my whole suicide theory,” Umeko said as she scratched her head, still covered by her patchwork hoodie.

“Could it be that the killer attempted to orchestrate the scene in a way that framed Copycat’s death as a suicide?” Takuma suggested. Hiroshi nodded silently at this suggestion.

“That means Rin is our prime suspect!” Shiori interjected with a gasp. Rin flinched and grasped her forehead with one hand. It was Kazuki who spoke up first, however.

“No, that’s not true!” He called. Silence fell over the room as his voice echoed around them, for a short moment lacking his usual stammer. “Rin and I were at the party together the whole time,” he insisted. “I was still with her when Copycat had wandered off. Hell, we weren’t even among the people who found her body!”

“Then why was her medicine at the scene?” Shiori prodded.

“It was the same type of medicine, but it wasn’t the container that Rin had.” 

To prove his statement, Kazuki held up the bottle of medicine he was given before nodding to Rin. She reached into her coat pocket and lifted up an identical container. 

“The real killer could have taken any number of identical containers that were stored in the chem lab. It’s coincidence that Rin happened to have them as well!” As Kazuki continued his testimony, his signature stuttering eventually crept it’s way back into his voice.

“Well la dee da,” Aki hummed. “That’s all well and good but that narrows down whodunnit by a count of two. If you didn’t do it and Rin didn’t do it, then who did?”

“Why don’t you quit mouthing off and do some deduction yourself, huh?” Masuyo snarled back.

“That’s it!” Tomoko yelled. “Those of you who were outside of the party, did any of you see someone suspicious? The killer would’ve had to have left the party at some point to kill Copycat.”

“Well, not a lot of people were outside of the gym,” Noburu scratched his chin. “I was climbing from place to place to get the drop on Aki and didn’t see anyone actually.”

“I was more distracted by finding her myself than by watching the door,” Yuudai grumbled. “In fact, I’m pretty sure watching the party was your job.”

His crushing retort overran the sudden confidence Tomoko had found before. 

“Oh come off it, let her question,” Aki interrupted impatiently with a snide smile. “I was outside the gym too and there was one specific face who I noticed a number of times.” She leaned over her podium and looked directly at Umeko. The rest of her classmates also looked expectantly for a rebuttal.

“We already established that I was wandering in and out,” Umeko said. “This doesn’t really add anything new. Besides, any of us outside of the party could’ve had a hand in this.”

“Yeah, not so fast,” Noburu added. “How do we know we can trust Aki? Didn’t Monokuma mention something about you breaking the rules of the game?”

Aki’s smile immediately contorted into an expression of fury.

“The rules didn’t exist when I broke them!” She yelled furiously. “I slaughtered my entire class by hand, not by a trial! If it wasn’t for me, you all wouldn’t have to deal with that stupid fucking ‘two deaths per trial’ rule!” She screamed furiously over her podium. Her bangs fell in front of her face as she pointed accusatorily at Monokuma, lounging on his throne. 

Monokuma yawned as he was scolded by her. “The more time you spend yelling at your headmaster, the less time you have to save your skins!” He cackled.

“Aki, focus!” Tomoko called. “You said you noticed Umeko outside of the party, is there a reason she stood out?”

“Because she was talking to Copycat,” Aki answered through clenched teeth, still occasionally glaring at Monokuma from her peripheral. “I don’t know if she was looking for me at all, because she definitely didn’t notice me.”

Once again, all eyes were on Umeko.

“I didn’t see what happened next because they started walking my way and I bailed,” Aki claimed. “As for trusting me, do I sound like I want to fucking die? I’ve got someone waiting for me outside and this kind of kill isn’t my style.”

“This kind of kill?” Umeko repeated questioningly.

“Well they mentioned Copycat getting sick, and that medicine or whatever right? Sounds to me like she was poisoned. I’m more fond of hands on deaths. This killer poisoned her and then hung the body with the ropes Noburu used to climb onto the catwalk. I really shouldn’t need to explain your own fucking crime to you! Now, come on! The sooner we end this trial, the sooner I can go back to plotting a murder of my own!”

“Shut up!” Umeko snapped back. “I didn’t kill her! You can’t just rule out a suicide like that! It’s in her name, isn’t it!? Seeing Sumiko take a tumble like she did convinced Copycat to go her own way! How would I have even managed to take her up to the catwalk!?”

“By escorting her,” Tomoko added. “If what Aki said is correct then there’s a stairwell that can be used to access the catwalk.”

“She could’ve taken it herself!” Umeko insisted. “There’s no reason to be pointing the finger at me over this! Why would Copycat just decide to take medicine from somebody for no reason? Enough to get her sick, even! If she didn’t want to die, then she would know not to overdose on painkillers!”

“Well you’re the only person I saw in the hallway with a drink, Umeko.” Aki spoke again. 

“That’s it!” Tomoko yelled again. “The glass you left the gymnasium with!”

“What about it!?” Umeko spat.

“Every time I saw you leaving the party, you had a glass from the bar. Then, when Aki chased you back into the gymnasium, your glass was gone. When we went to the scene however, there was no sign in the hallway that you’d dropped it. No broken glass.”

“So what!? You don’t know where I left it!”

“You’re right, I don’t. But I do know that alcohol makes those painkillers work a lot faster than they would on their own. If Rin is any sign, then somebody as small as Copycat wouldn't have been able to handle those tablets. Especially if they were dissolved in a drink that you gave to her.”

Umeko fell silent at this accusation as her schoolmates stared her down. She doubled over, leaning on her podium with her hands gripping either side of it. White knuckled, she looked up at the room around her with an expression of contempt. 

“Oh, I know what this means! If nobody has anything else to add then it’s voting time!” Monokuma immediately shot up from his lounging position. He threw his arms in the air before retrieving his gavel from under the cushion on his throne. He smashed it down on a bright red button that marked the beginning of the voting period. Tomoko glanced around before making her decision, noting the pale dread on Umeko’s face.

“Votes are in!” Monokuma bellowed as the same screen from the first trial descended from the ceiling for them all to see.

Rin Suzuki: 1

Miyuki Rie: 2

Copycat: 1

Umeko Mori: 9

Beside Tomoko, Miyuki sighed mournfully and looked down at her podium. Tomoko glanced back at her but still found her eyes hidden by choppy blonde hair and thick glasses. 

“Fine,” Umeko finally let go of her podium. “I did it. I killed Copycat. She was the easiest person to coax into an overdose after my little exploration through the school led me to those stupid stairs Aki wouldn’t shut up about! I drugged her ass and dragged her body up to the catwalk, where the last thing Copycat ever did was empty her fucking bile onto the ground!”

“You are a despicable, rotten little girl.” 

Tomoko turned to see who had spoken out. It was Amaya, who stared Umeko down with a contempt unlike anything she'd shown before. 

“Do you even realize the implication of having attempted a murder at all?” Amaya continued. “You didn’t only kill Copycat, but you put the lives of every other person in this room on the line for a chance to save your own skin.”

“I know,” Umeko sneered. 

“What a twist!” Monokuma cried as he leapt from his throne. “I was certain that my motive would end up offing one of you, or getting disposed of herself! Either possibility would be a win for me! This however concludes our class trial. It’s punishment time!”

With this announcement, a screaming and struggling Umeko was dragged out of the trial room by her neck.

**Execution: Full Body Trophy Mount Preservation of the Disturbed!**

Umeko was dragged away via metal clamped around her throat before being thrown against a steel table. The force of the impact knocked the rest of what little wind remained in her lungs outside of them. She wheezed and attempted to grasp at her already bruising throat before her arms and legs were restrained. Umeko was lifted by the hood of her patchwork jacket to hang on a metal display stand.

The room around her lit up to reveal a laboratory decorated in decaying corpses. Decapitated heads belonging to anything from deer to birds and their separated bones littered the floor. What wasn’t sitting in open air was poorly preserved, only slightly less rotten than the rest of the contents in the room. Umeko struggled and gagged against the overpowering stench and her grips of her restraints before a Monokuma robot dressed in a lab coat made its way towards her. 

Before Umeko could move out of the way the Monokuma retrieved a massive syringe from out of nowhere, piercing it into her stomach. She was immediately unable to cry out in pain or feel any pain at all. Umeko was completely paralyzed.

With it’s victim unable to move at all, the Monokuma made quick work of Umeko. It disemboweled her with its claws so quickly that it was hardly visible what was going on. Fresh blood coated the already deceased that surrounded her.

When the Monokuma stepped away, all that was left of Umeko was her empty skin. It stuffed her with scrap metal before tying her back together with straw string. The execution concluded when Umeko’s body was released and hung on her display. She dangled for a few moments before her body slumped onto the floor.

The trial room echoed with panicked screams. Tomoko stared at Umeko’s lifeless body while the commotion around her continued. Ryuu sobbed while Hiroshi held him. Masuyo and Amaya shared in Tomoko’s silence. Rin wobbled on her feet at the podium before losing her balance and collapsing. Kazuki, followed by Shiori, rushed to her side.

“Tomoko,” came a familiar voice. “Tomoko,” it repeated. “Look here.”

Tomoko turned to her side to see Miyuki staring down at her open book.

“It helps to distract yourself,” Miyuki said solemnly. “But right now, it’s time to leave. Don't stare, you'll only feel worse."

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are really starting to pick up now! As always, thank you all for your patience and thank you for reading!


	13. Weeks Passing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new motive means a terrible time for every student. Rin continues trying to make sense of her surroundings while everything around her falls apart at the seams.

Rin woke up with a pounding headache. Her eyes felt as though they were beating in time with her own pulse, reverberating through her skull. She sat up and wobbled out of bed. Rin's body was seconds behind her mind. Her first action of the day was to stumble into her dorm washroom and immediately get sick.

The buzz of an incoming announcement pierced her ears and Rin groaned. 

“Good morning, Hope’s Peak Academy!” The grating voice of her headmaster resounded in her compact dorm. “It’s another beautiful day! You’d best make your way to the cafeteria to enjoy a nice hearty breakfast. Make sure it’s a good one, because after that it’s going to be time for a brand-new motive!” 

Rin’s dorm room was dark as she staggered from place to place, gathering her things. A sliver of light peeked through from under the closed door that led to the hallway. She changed her clothes and ran her hands through her tawny hair before tying it into her usual bun. It looked messier than it did on other days, but Rin wasn’t in a patient enough state to steady her hands and try again. Or to waste her time by brushing her hair properly.

As Rin was washing her face, there was a knock at her door. She grumbled that she was on her way, though it was stifled enough she wouldn’t have expected her visitor to hear. Rin opened the door to welcome pounding fluorescent light into the room. Kazuki stood there waiting for her.

“Rin, morning-” He stammered. “I came to check on you. Are you still sick? Nauseous or feverish?”

“I’m hungover,” Rin answered monotonously. “But I expected that.”

“I did too, you had a lot to drink.” Kazuki fidgeted with the sleeves of his lab coat. They fell over his hands like an over-sized sweater. Rin watched his hands until he spoke again. “I was worried about the painkillers you took. I wanted to make sure you were better before anything else bad happened today.”

“Anything else bad?”

“It’s going to happen,” Kazuki said haltingly. “The new motive is going to be something bad I just know it, and the day is going to end in disaster just like it always has been. But if you’re okay, that’s less to worry about. Less things that could go wrong, because you’re okay!”

“Alright, alright, thank you.” Rin waved one hand and rubbed her forehead with the other. “Where were we meant to meet the others? The kitchen?”

“Yeah,” Kazuki nodded. “Something about eating a good breakfast.”

Rin groaned as her stomach lurched at the suggestion.

“Don’t miss out, you could get killed.”

Rin paused and looked up to meet Kazuki’s eye. His brow was knit in concern and his lips were pressed in a tight line. Rin’s hand dropped from her head.

“Okay,” she conceded with a sigh. “Let’s go.”

By the time the two of them arrived, the kitchen had already erupted into agitated shouting directed at a bored looking Monokuma. Rin grumbled dismally and stopped outside the kitchen.

“What the Hell is going on?” She asked.

“Something about the food?” Kazuki answered quizzically. “It’s hard to understand with everybody talking at once-”

“Science nerds!” Noburu suddenly swung down from one of the rafters. “You missed some shit!” His expression was unusually distraught, from what Kazuki could read. Rin took a step back, agitated by the sudden outburst. 

“That’s just how things work around here, kids!” Monokuma yelled over the students. “All your food supplies have been cut off. You either starve to death in this school, or one of you has to commit another murder!”

Rin gagged as the students around them once again erupted into protest. Kazuki rushed to her side, allowing her to steady herself with his arm.

“Now now, you still get fresh water!” Monokuma continued. “It would be a far different type of torture to cut the water supply. I need that too!”

“Oh, come off it!” Aki shouted. “Your mastermind doesn’t have to commit to these rules!”

“Shut the Hell up!” Monokuma interjected back. “You brats have three weeks until each and every one of you will be dead! Now, the smallest of you are obviously going to be the first to go. So you either watch each other wither and die like meat or you slaughter each other like butchers!”

“I don’t want to do this anymore,” Ryuu wailed. He pulled the hood of his sweater over his face, hiding red cheeks and misty eyes as he sniffled and rambled. Hiroshi still stayed by his side but was staring, stunned at Monokuma. Ryuu hugged Hiroshi tightly. Hiroshi jolted slightly before wrapping one arm around Ryuu.

Rin bit back her agitation and her throbbing headache as the rest of the students around her wailed and argued. She turned and left Kazuki behind as he tried to stop her.

“Where are you going?!” Kazuki called. His voice wavered as he pushed past his classmates to follow Rin.

“I left my notebook behind,” Rin replied. “I need it.”

“You’re going to write about people? You’ll make your headache worse,” Kazuki said.

“I don’t care about my headache,” Rin grumbled back. “You’ve heard what Aki has been rambling on about, right? About a mastermind. If I just record more on everyone, it’ll all make sense.”

“You aren’t in your right mind,” Kazuki reasoned. “We’ll figure it out just not now!”

Rin turned and stared at him, her brow furrowed. “Do you legitimately believe we have time to spare?!”

Kazuki paused and stared at her. He held his hands in front of him, fidgeting with the sleeves of his lab coat.

Rin turned again and continued on her way down the hallway, leaving Kazuki behind. 

Rin’s notes were once pristine. Organized and stacked in clinical pencil. Clear and succinct with reminders in the margins. Each participant of the killing game had a page to themselves that recorded her initial impressions of them. From there her notes branched out, references to different sheets written by her reminders. Following the writing on her classmates there were pages after pages on the game itself. 

Each day a new addition to Rin’s theory of the nature of the killing game was made. She stood in corners and watched as Ryuu refused to engage with a commonly enraged Masuyo. Her notes were coming together like a timeline of people gone mad. 

  
  
  


_ This Place (date unknown? Update when possible) _

_ 16 students including myself are trapped in an abandoned school. There are at least two floors, one for classrooms and the other containing a trial room. The floors are connected by an elevator controlled by headmaster Monokuma (see page 18). Addendum; due to the expectations of the killing game, the number of participants is consistently lowering (see page 3). _

_ You are a test subject. Observe yourself. _

“I want to do an interview.”

Ryuu pulled his knees closer to his torso. They sat alone in the library, having run from an irate Masuyo.

“I don’t think I’m in a good place to do that right now, Rin.”

_ The Killing Game _

_ Beginning with 16 students, the game is watched over by headmaster Monokuma. All subjects are trapped in a restricted space. The game is segmented into rounds. Each round begins when a motive is given by Monokuma (see page 19). The motive is intended to convince a student into killing. There is a maximum of two murders allowed per killer.  _

_ After a body is discovered, a period of time is allotted for investigation. When this time is up all students, take part in a class trial. For innocents, the object of the game is to reveal the killer. They are also referred to as 'the blackened.' The objective of the blackened is to remain anonymous and avoid being accused.  _

_ If the killer is found they will be executed and all remaining participants are returned to the ground level of the school to await the next motive. If they are not discovered, then all innocent players are executed and the killer has won the game. _

“Have you seen Ryuu?” Hiroshi asked. 

“I was just with him,” Rin replied without pausing her writing. “He was in the kitchen. Looking for scraps, I believe.”

_ Headmaster Monokuma and the Mastermind Hypothesis (as of week 1 day 4) _

_ If Monokuma is a robot then there must be a mastermind because somebody needs to be controlling him. _

_ Monokuma is a small robotic teddy bear. He is half black and half white with one red eye. The robot also has claws and teeth that serve an unknown purpose as Monokuma does not eat or hunt. Theoretically they are either for intimidation or discipline of rule breaking participants. This theory has yet to be observed, and tests will not occur for the sake of keeping as many people alive as possible. _

_ Addendum, week 2 day 2. As suggested by the second motive, Aki, there is an imposter among the participants of the killing game. Seeing as the Monokuma doll is an animatronic of sorts it stands to reason that there is someone controlling it. However, this begs the question of why Aki is incapable of revealing who the mastermind is. This is likely tied to the missing memories of each participant in the game (see page 24).  _

“Aki, do you have time?”

Aki immediately turned on her heel, brandishing a crooked knife she’d stolen from the kitchen and lunged towards Rin. She stopped herself when she saw Hiroshi looming over them both. 

“What do you want?” Aki snarled viciously.

“A short interview regarding the topic of the mastermind. I want to find them. It’s to my understanding that you were previously in another killing game, and I want to know more about that. Do you not remember who the mastermind was?”

Aki lowered her weapon slightly, but still kept her posture as if she would attack at any second.

“Yeah, I was in a game before this one. I wouldn’t have seen a mastermind, though. They keep themselves all locked up in some control room on the top floor. You know, the principal’s office. I would know about a traitor, though.”

“Is there a reason you haven’t shared any information on this traitor?”

“If I remembered who the traitor was, I would’ve told you! I don’t want to die locked in this shitty old school either!”

“That was my theory, yes. That you would’ve had your memories taken like the rest of us. What do you remember about this traitor?” Rin asked calmly as she continued writing her notes.

“I know there's a traitor and a mastermind! I feel it in my bones that there’s two people behind this game. One of them at least would be hanging out like one of us, blending in and playing dumb! That way there's always somebody to keep an eye on us!"

“I see. In your first game, you killed all of your classmates in one round, correct?” Rin tapped at her notebook curiously. 

Aki nodded and twirled the knife proudly. “All of ‘em, yeah.”

“So none of the participants in this game are people you shared classes with?”

“Not a damn one,” Aki said. “I’m the last second year left! Except for my boyfriend, obviously. He wasn’t in the game, though. And when I win, I’m going to find him and we’ll live happily ever after!” Aki hugged herself tenderly with her free arm as she said this.

_ The Memory Theory (as of week 2 day 5) _

_ All participants in the killing game are missing vital memories. These missing memories commonly include the events leading up to containment, the nature of their own talents, and the date the game began. Unproven, but there is the chance that a number of us may have known each other before our memories were stolen from us. _

Days blended together. Watching her classmates was like looking through tinted glass.

“Do you find music to be a comfort?”

“Music is my everything, miss.” Takuma swelled with pride at the topic. Despite his stature he shook like the rest of them when exerting himself.

“You still find the time to write your pieces?” Rin continued.

“Indeed, much like you seem to have done as well. Great minds do think alike.”

_ The Challenges of the Application of Survival Theory (week 2 day 7) _

_ Group survival includes the benefits of greater security and a divided work effort. In the event of exploring a new location, it’s more likely that one person will find a tool that can be used by another in the group. _

“Tomoko, do you have time to talk?” Rin slurred.

“I have the time, but you don’t have the mind,” Tomoko replied bluntly as she made her way down the hallway. “Where’s Kazuki? He’s better with this than me.”

“Kazuki is doing…” Rin’s voice tapered off. Part of her mind wandered to the image of him doing his work in the chem lab. Kazuki in his white lab coat with goggles musing up his already tousled hair. “Kazuki is working,” She finally said.

“Working on what?” Tomoko paused to check her monopod. “It’s an hour to midnight.”

“What does he do? Toxicology. So, that.”

“Go to bed, Rin.”

_ To strictly follow survival theory will not ensure the best outcome. The longer the killing game continues, the more of us will die. It’s always only a matter of time. _

“Why do you protect him?” Rin asked as she wrote and rewrote her next page. She scratched the writing out. Hiroshi watched silently as Rin wrote and crossed and wrote and crossed again.

“Who’s ‘him?’” Hiroshi asked gently. 

“Ryuu,” Rin said. The dull pain of her headache and her churning stomach from the passing days was making it harder to pay attention to what she was doing. 

“I’m worried about him,” Hiroshi replied. “Like how Kazuki is with you. I’m not a doctor, though.”

“You’re right, you aren’t a doctor. So how are you helping?”

When Hiroshi looked at Rin again she wasn’t looking back at him. Her hands shivered while she wrote.

_ In a circumstance that makes group survival impossible, this theory also covers the benefits of solo survival. When alone there are more supplies for one individual. It grants more mobility and less tension. It’s generally less difficult to organize oneself as opposed to a group of people. Solo survival is ideal in a scenario where there aren’t enough supplies to ensure group survival.  _

Rin sat in her dorm after it felt as though she’d been starving her entire life. The dorm itself was becoming less organized. It was late at night but all of Rin’s lights were on. Her bed was unmade and her sheets hung off the side of it. There was a knock at the door. Rin pushed back the wooden chair of her rickety work desk, knocking over loose paper as she did. Rin stumbled and swore under her breath before gathering the pages again. 

Rin opened the door slightly. Light poured into a darkened hallway from her dorm, illuminating a red faced Kazuki. 

“Are you drunk or were you crying?” Rin slurred.

“Rin, what?” Kazuki seemed taken aback by the question. 

Rin paused to blink hard. When she opened her eyes again, the red on Kazuki’s face was gone. It was replaced by the harsh shadow of the light behind her. The dingy hallway tilted to the left as Rin looked past Kazuki. She blinked again and the room reoriented itself. She also noticed Tomoko had been silently standing by Kazuki the whole time.

“Neither,” Rin replied.

Kazuki paused at her statement and Tomoko spoke up in his place. “It’s past midnight,” she said. “Kazuki wanted to check on you.”

“Why?”

“It’s past midnight,” Tomoko repeated.

“There’s two of you.”

“It’s dangerous at night,” Kazuki fidgeted with a cup he was holding. “I can’t see who’s in the halls. We’re close to the dorms, though.”

“What do you want?” Rin grumbled.

“Go to sleep, Rin,” Kazuki urged before holding out the cup. “Look, I brought you water.”

Rin stared at the cup before taking it. “If it’s dangerous, then I shouldn’t let you in.”

“I didn’t ask you to,” Kazuki said. “I just wanted to check on you. Maybe get some rest? It’ll be easier in the morning.”

“We’re dying, Kazuki.”

Tomoko watched down the hall as the two of them exchanged their words. The sound of a distant door creaking open caught her attention. Tomoko looked down the hall to the source of the noise. She couldn’t hear anything else over Kazuki and Rin.

“Fine,” Rin huffed. “I’ll go to bed. Just leave me until morning at least.” Rin reached to turn off the overhead lights as she spoke before disappearing into a now pitch black dorm room.

Kazuki let out a breath. “Thanks for coming along Tomoko. I’m going to bed, too. Stay safe.”

“Right,” Tomoko nodded. She still paid attention to the now silent hallway. With that, Kazuki entered his own dorm room.

Once she was alone again, Tomoko walked down the hall to where she’d heard the noise. It came from where her own dorm was. Tomoko stood in front of her own door in the dim hallway, lit only by the light that came from underneath the closed door of the dorm across from her. The door opened slowly to reveal Amaya who was just leaving the room. Behind her was Masuyo, hair mused and shirt collar crooked. Amaya’s dark lipstick was visibly smeared in the low light.

Amaya looked up at Tomoko and as she did so her excited smile faded into her more familiar restrained grin. She politely walked past them both and down the hallway before returning to her own dorm room. Tomoko looked back to Masuyo, who was fixing her collar. They watched each other for a moment. Masuyo’s sharp green eyes shone as if daring Tomoko to speak or make a move at all. She then wordlessly returned to her own dorm.

By the end of the second week of the newest motive, Tomoko’s entire body ached with starvation. Her classmates ambled along through an unpredictable daily routine as their bones creaked and skin cracked. Ryuu hardly moved anywhere at all. Hiroshi would bring them both water. Aki hadn’t left her dorm room at all. Tomoko assumed she was just lurking out for water at night. Nobody had the energy left to kill anymore.

“We are all going to die,” Shiori sobbed into Kazuki’s coat. He wavered as she held onto him. He hadn’t left Rin’s side. They sat in the bare kitchen that morning, silent and missing several students.

“We still have another week before the smallest of us will die,” Rin said. “There’s some time left.” Shiori glared at Rin while holding onto Kazuki’s arm. Kazuki flinched but added nothing.

An anguished scream came from the hallway. Tomoko shot up from her seat, immediately feeling dizzy with the force of standing up so quickly. She glanced over at the people who were in the room before she bolted from the kitchen. Tomoko was followed by Kazuki, Shiori, and Rin. The scream was accompanied by sobbing and crashing and then followed by a complete absence of any voices at all.

By the time Tomoko reached the music room, the place already smelt of iron, overpowering the previously existing dust in the air. Old rusted instruments had been knocked to the ground, and blood pooled on the cracked linoleum. In the center of the room was Masuyo, sobbing and strangling a blood soaked Takuma. The thick silence of him grasping desperately at his own gore soaked mouth and neck flooded around them all. As he gasped, open-mouthed, for air, Tomoko noticed the gore smeared across his teeth and tongue. Tomoko immediately rushed ahead, grabbing Masuyo from behind and trying to pull her back. 

Masuyo screamed when she was grabbed. She was completely incoherent as she let go of Takuma with one hand to claw at Tomoko instead. Tomoko jolted, shifting her weight and brought Masuyo tumbling to the ground with her and forcing Takuma out of her grip in the process. Masuyo immediately turned her attention on the others before Hiroshi grabbed her and dragged her away. As Tomoko looked back at Masuyo, frozen in dizzy fear, she realized that it wasn’t only blood smeared on her face. 

Masuyo was sobbing and staring past Tomoko, not paying her any mind at all but still struggling to get away from Hiroshi. He too stared beyond her. Tomoko slipped as she tried to stand again. She looked to her hands and knees to realize she was also now covered in blood. Tomoko steadied herself to look at the rest of the room behind her.

Amaya had been practically torn open. She laid on her back with her ribcage exposed and spilling blood from her chest cavity as well as from her cracked forehead. Despite the violence of her death, she laid as if only having a fitful dream. 

Tomoko was shoved aside by Masuyo who crawled towards Amaya’s body. She sat on her knees and pulled the bloody mess of her classmate into her arms. Masuyo held her close and tucked Amaya’s head under her own.

Tomoko was startled by a sudden gargled scream from Takuma. She turned suddenly to see Monokuma having executed Takuma via his own claws to Takuma’s throat. Takuma collapsed in a pool of his own blood, a trail of Amaya's gore leading from her open body to his jaws. His face frozen with panicked horror. Tomoko flinched and gagged at the imaginary taste of blood on her own tongue.

“You weren’t supposed to get caught, music man,” Monokuma cackled as he shook the blood from his claws. “What a waste."


	14. Week 2, Day 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kazuki tends to Rin, who's health is failing.

“Miyuki?” Noboru asked. He sat looking over her shoulder worriedly after the first meal they’d had in almost a month. “Are you sure you don’t need any more?”   
Miyuki turned the page of her book.

“Miyuki,” Noburu said again as he edged a plate closer to her. She noticed it from her peripheral and lowered her book slightly. “Are you full?”   
“Now that we can have food again, I can eat whenever I want to.”

“That isn’t what he asked,” Tomoko added grimly. She sat across from the two of them. The other classmates in the kitchen that morning were eerily quiet compared to how boisterous they’d been before. They were more focused on their food than conversation.

Miyuki didn’t respond to Tomoko’s interjection. Noburu tried to inch the plate closer to her one more time while they sat in relative silence. Tomoko looked at the book Miyuki was holding. She’d progressed a fair bit into it since the game began.

“What are you going to read once you’re done that book?” Tomoko asked.

Miyuki looked up at Tomoko briefly before looking at the pages again. Her expression was blank and her mouth formed a tight line, holding anybody who looked back from reading her.

“I don’t know,” Miyuki finally replied. “I didn’t think I’d ever finish it. I still don’t think I will. ”

Tomoko paused at this. She didn’t dare ask for elaboration.

“There’s plenty for you in the library,” Noburu offered. Miyuki merely glanced at him blankly.

“I don’t want to get a different book from the library,” she said.

“So you’ll just read the same book again?” Tomoko asked.

Miyuki didn’t reply.

Tomoko sighed before noticing Yuudai walking by them. He was quiet as well.

  
“Yuudai,” she spoke up before realizing she was unsure of what to say to him. He looked at her grimly.

“What?” Yuudai asked bluntly. “I’m not in the mood."

“I want to talk to you,” Tomoko insisted. “It’s about the game. To a degree it’s about Rin’s thoughts on the game. ”

“ What is there to say? ” Yuudai grumbled.

“We’re all going to die.” Miyuki sighed before resting the side of her head on her crossed arms, propped up against the table. Noburu touched her shoulder in a quiet attempt to reassure her.

“Shush, not yet we aren’t.” Tomoko glanced back at Miyuki, who hid her face behind her book. Under her glasses, wet trails fell from obscured eyes.

“Rin has some kind of plan. It’s vague, though. She’s been going on about finding the mastermind. ”

“Like Aki?” Yuudai huffed.

“Yes, listen to me.” Tomoko insisted. “Rin’s been interviewing people, going on about her theories. She says that if we find the mastermind the game could finally end. ”

“Why would that end the game?” Noburu asked.

“If people found out who the mastermind is, then everybody would have a target to follow,” Miyuki said.

“Right, you’ve got it.” Tomoko nodded to Miyuki before continuing. “If we know who the mastermind is, then we know who’s controlling Monokuma. By revealing them, we put the mastermind in danger. The game can’t continue without somebody controlling it. ”

Before Tomoko could continue, the PA system buzzed and clicked awake.

“Attention Hope’s Peak Academy students!” Monokuma declared. “It’s another beautiful day! Not that you’d be able to tell. Report to the gymnasium for your next motive! "   
  
Kazuki followed Rin closely, and Shiori followed him. Rin wavered as she walked. Slurring a few of her words. Noburu walked at Miyuki's side as she continued to read her novel. Ryuu stood close to Hiroshi's side. They all made their way to the gymnasium in groups, save for Aki and Masuyo.  Aki shoved through the groups to hurriedly make her way to their destination. She knocked Rin aside in the process, and Rin struggled to regain her balance. Kazuki supported her arm from that point. Masuyo cursed at Aki but didn't pick up her pace. She lurked at the end of the group like a spectre. Tomoko quickened her pace to stand by Kazuki. She could hardly pick up on what Rin was muttering to him, but he nodded solemnly as she rambled into his ear.   
  
“You two spend quite the overwhelming abundance of time practically joined at the hip,” Shiori scoffed.

“You need to understand,” Rin slurred as Kazuki steadied her. “ There is no love here. ”

“I know,” Kazuki replied meekly.

“I never said a damn thing about love, you paranoid whore.” Shiori snarled. Kazuki flashed a startled expression. The bags under his eyes had deepened. He simultaneously carried the air of an exhausted man and the high-strung teenager he'd always been.

“Our codependency is born of our similarities and our urgent want to survive but our attempts to live as a group in this time is foolish.”

“I know.”

“Everything is so very loud, Kazuki. You are going to get yourself killed. ”

“Rin I do care about you,” Kazuki said as he pushed a glass of water close to her. “I’m not going to die.”

“You could die,” Shiori interrupted. “You could die the very moment I am not looking at you.”

“It would be foolish of me to trust anyone,” Rin stammered. “Kazuki could be poisoning me. I could die any day now. I feel as though that is the case and I am powerless to stop him. ”

Kazuki went pale. “Rin, that isn’t the case at all.” In response, Rin just tightened her grip on his arm.

“I am of the belief that in a case such as this, one should be simply put out of her misery.” Shiori's expression was vacant as she spoke in Rin's direction.

“You will not need to,” Rin replied. “I am dying as we speak. There is no love in the killing games, there is only the matter of dying sooner than we would have imagined to. ”

“If you don’t shut the fuck up about love and death right now, I’ll be the one to kill you myself!” Masuyo roared.

Rin didn’t flinch, but Kazuki did. Rin just continued to make her way down the hall at a brisk pace.

Monokuma was already in the gymnasium to meet his students. He stood on the stage waiting for them all to arrive.

“It’s about time you showed up!” Monokuma growled. “I was getting impatient! Don’t you know it’s rude to keep your dear headmaster waiting?! ”

“Why would the species of our headmaster impact the rudeness of being late to an appointment?” Shiori mused with a wavering smile. Nobody replied to her question.

“Hush up, teacher’s pet!” Monokuma snapped back. “Save kissing ass for when your life's on the line! This motive is a big one! ”

Tomoko shivered as she awaited the next reveal. Monokuma’s voice was serrated metal dragging up her spine.

“This is the big one! The motive is a free for all! ” Monokuma cackled behind his paws and twirled on the stage before continuing. “ Anybody who commits a murder will be granted one wish! Anything you want! Except there are two rules! ”

The gymnasium had already begun to rumble with half-hearted murmurs.

“Rule number one,” Monokuma cleared his throat. “ You can not share your prize with any other student! The prize is yours and yours alone. Rule number two, you can’t wish for anybody to live! Dead is dead, convicted is convicted! Understood? ”

Nobody replied to Monokuma.

“Geez, tough crowd. Since there are no questions, I’ll assume that this means you all understand! So get to it, chop chop! ”With that, Monokuma once again inexplicably disappeared.

“So, what will you all wish for?” Shiori piped up. This prompted Kazuki to try and leave with Rin, who was furiously scribbling down her notes.

“I’m not going to  ‘wish for’ anything. I need to help my friend,” he said.

“The way you’re acting about all of this I would call you many things but not ‘friends,’ ” Shiori huffed in response. She held her head high, as if offended by Kazuki’s response.

“Quit being a clown,” Yuudai growled. “This is just some kind of trap. Nobody is going to get exactly what they asked for, didn’t you listen to how Monokuma worded it? ”

“That’s right,” Tomoko ran one hand through her hair. “He said the prize was for ‘anybody who commits a murder,’ and that ‘convicted is convicted.’ Even if you win the prize, you can still get caught in the trial? ”

Yuudai nodded stiffly. “Exactly. You can’t wish yourself a get out of jail free card. Killers who get caught will get executed. Our best bet is to just lay low until we can find a way out of here. ”

“Somebody is going to attempt a kill,” Rin interrupted. “We either live out our natural lifespans in this cage or somebody tries to get out. It’s foolish to remain in groups. One will ultimately have to turn on another, and you can not be the second to betray another when the first betrayal will kill you. ”

“Rin please,” Kazuki pleaded with her. “You’re sick and paranoid.”

“I am also right.”

“I’m going to look after her,” Kazuki said to the others. “She’s still been getting into the medicine I took from her-”

“And the wine,” Rin added.

“Okay that’s enough we’re taking you back to your dorm and you’re going to sleep this off!” Kazuki exclaimed in breathy panic as he held both of Rin’s arms. He checked her pupils interchangeably before she weakly pushed his face away. It was unclear whether she was rosy due to her drunkenness or her proximity to Kazuki.

Kazuki immediately let go of Rin before making his way towards the exit. She followed beside him like a haunting. Shori stared at them as they left. Kazuki shivered as she watched.

Kazuki and Rin left for the dorm rooms alone. The old hallways echoed an ambient hum. The only sound to break the white noise was the irregular tapping of footsteps.   
Rin stopped in front of her dorm room and stared at Kazuki for a short moment.

“Do you mind if I get water first?” She asked.

“I don’t,” Kazuki assured her quickly.

“Come with me. The empty cups in the kitchen are near the wine cabinet. ”

Kazuki nodded shakily. “Alright, we can do that.” He started walking down the hallway again before pausing and looking behind him. Rin pushed herself forward, prompting him to continue.

Her feet were led dragging on cracked linoleum. They scraped along and echoed off peeling yellowed paint as Rin dragged herself after Kazuki to the kitchen. He opened the door for Rin and allowed her in.

Rin stood and steadied herself against the kitchen counter while Kazuki looked for cups of water. He closed the cupboard and brought two empty plastic cups to the kitchen sink. “Did you really mean what you said about betrayal?” Kazuki asked through a hoarsely gentle voice.

Rin reached behind her with one hand. The wooden utensil drawer creaked as she pulled it open. Dull steel dragged and caught against the old boards.   
“I would never lie to you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to all of you who decided to read this! It's my first time writing a fangan, and I'm already having a great time with it! This first chapter was mostly to introduce a few characters and establish the killing game. More characters will come in the next chapter!


End file.
